Most people just take off the smog pumps unless you are in CA.
I agree that the injection system is a POS, but it is not unreliable. Almost all 320i's have over 200k miles. It may never start and idle properly in all temperatures, but it will not leave you stranded on a regular basis. I don't agree that the later system is any better than the early, the addition of the o2 sensor is the only real difference. They both suck. The 318i system (L-jet) is good, it gets great mileage and starts properly. It cannot however, handle much performance increase. (The k-jet is surprisingly adequate in the regard). It's very elementary so far as EFI goes. The ultimate is of course programmable EFI.