Alrighty, so I'm on the hunt for items to give Snowflake a tune-up when I'm home over spring break toward the end of March. Big ups to Botond for conveniently having a distributor cap and rotor for the M20 he no longer has, so I've got that much down. I also know that I need some new spark plugs, a new air filter (which I may just hold off on and replace with one of these: clicky!) and some new ignition wires (which are showing their age with small cracks and a light, yellowing coating of cosmoline). I know the fuel filter should be replaced, too, but for fear of that turning into "Timing Belt: The Sequel," I'm just going to have the guys at CR's Wholesale tackle that and a valve adjustment...and the short-throw shifter that I'm treating myself to for my late half-birthday/early birthday gift in a few months. On the subject of ignition wires, I've seen (all over the web) these so-called "performance" ignition wires, and my fave BavAuto has 'em, too. So, for the extra dough, what exactly will these do to my car? Wouldn't less resistance and the consequent hotter sparks cause some kind of fault within the ECU?
Good luck. Changing a fuel filter is almost no work at all; very easy. You do have to put the car up on jackstands though. (Changing the distributor cap is relatively harder.) Valve adjustment requires patience and practice (and a new valve cover gasket). Short-shift kit needs lots and lots of patience just because the work space is soooo confined and The Dreaded Clip may require you to lower your transmission to get it off. Wires are wires. The OEM BMW wires are considered all you need. 20 year old petrified Cosmoline comes off with paint remover. (...so does 20 year old paint: be careful.)
I had absolutely no problem changing my fuel filter, and it definitely didn't need to be jacked up to get it replaced. Mine was located right in front of the rear driver's-side wheel, and was ultra easy to do; less than 10 minutes (stubborn rusty clamp).
