The idle on the car is ok, but its never been perfect. It seemed to be getting a little worse, in a way consistent with a vacuum leak. So I decided to replace the vacuum lines under the intake and the idle control valve, as the hoses were noticeably cracked and this is a common cause of this issue. While not difficult, this is not trivial. I had to remove the throttle body and intake. Here's a shot of it torn down.
I had to take it off to verify the parts to order, and while I wait for those to show up, I decided to go ahead and paint the intake. Pimpy, but given the cosmoline and dirt on the motor, I figure painting it black is a good way to dress things up a little. 1 coat of engine paint primer, and 2 coats of gloss black engine paint.

Here is a shot of the intake, cleaned and primered. I cleaned it with simple green and brake cleaner. A good greenie-weenie scrubber and water came in handy.
Here is a shot of the finished product. After painting I sanded the raised portions.
The engine paint says it take 7 days to fully cure, and since I have to wait for the parts to show up, it's a perfect time to do it. I'd do the valve cover as well, but not yet, I'll get to that later. Total cost in paint is $15, with enough extra to do the valve cover later.

Odometer and front air dam

Finally got off my butt and fixed the odometer a couple of weeks ago. Cost $80 for the new gears. Unfortunately when I got done, the left side instrument cluster bulb went out, probably from moving it around, so I'll have to take it out again later and fix that. But, now I can determine what kind of mileage I'm getting.

Also, today I finally got the brake cooler intakes painted black. Unfortunately BMW no longer makes the clips for these, so I had to steal one from the left side and use double-sided sticky tape on the bottom of each, but they seem to be held in well. Also, I took the bumper off, and with a big cresent wrench, and some small wood blocks, managed to bend the front air dam back up. Apparently it had gone over something pretty big, as the whole thing dipped down and made a pretty noticeable gap below the front bumper. It's not perfect, but it's good enough that I'm not feeling the urge to replace that front section. Here's a shot of the finished product.