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    Getting Project E36 M3 Home

    In the first installment of my Project E36 M3 story, I told you about how I wanted an E36 M3 to build up as a track car, but was struggling to find a good starter until I travelled to San Diego. I lucked out and finally found one there—but now it was time to drive a 160,000-mile E36 with a leaking cooling system 1,100 miles home through 110°+ California heat!

    After I handed over my money, and we both signed the documents, I jumped into my “new” car and drove off. I had a big smile on my face as I pulled out of that parking lot - I had wanted an E36 for a couple years now! It wasn’t long before reality set in and I had to prepare for the 1,100-mile drive home. It was Saturday evening and I had to leave town on Monday. There was a lot to get done so this trip would go as smoothly as possible, but I didn’t have a lot of time.

    Since it wasn’t street-legal, I took it to my storage garage and swapped out my E46 M3. Then it was straight to the auto parts store to get some supplies. I needed to perform an oil change before I left town and I wanted to grab some spare parts in case I needed to do a roadside repair.

    On Sunday, I drove back to my storage garage and backed out the E36. That’s when I noticed that my small coolant leak was actually a little bigger than I had wanted before a road trip. So I jacked up the car and started to poke around.

    I had read over the inspection report from Oceanside Motorsports and knew that the leak was coming from the lower radiator hose. One of the previous owners had recently replaced the cooling system and the hose was fairly new. So I dried it off as much as I could with a towel and started the car back up. After a few moments I saw a drop appear where the lower hose attaches to the radiator. Thus, I loosened the hose clamp, pressed the hose on a little further, and then retightened the clamp. This appeared to have stopped the leak.

    With that issue straightened out, I started the oil change. The oil looked really clean when I drained it, but since the guy I bought it from had no idea when it was changed last, it was a good idea to do it anyways. This way I was also certain that the right oil and filter were used.

    After I had finished the maintenance and looked over the car a little bit more, I opened up the owner’s manual to see if I could find any more info about this car. I was excited to find articles cut out of magazines and even an old BMW CCA membership card! This was a good sign that the previous owner was a true enthusiast.

    Since it was Sunday, there wasn’t much more I could do. So I packed the car full of tools and parked it back in storage. Tomorrow was the start of a potentially adventurous journey!

    When I woke up Monday morning, I had a long list of things to get done before I could head out of town. First off was a trip to the DMV to get a one-way permit. If you’ve ever been to a California DMV without an appointment, you know this is torture. After a couple hours in line, and about twenty minutes talking to the DMV rep, they didn’t want to give me the one-way trip permit due to some paperwork issues. The same ones that kept the previous owner for getting it titled and registered.

    So I talked to a couple of friends and they said to try a private licensing place that they knew about. I strolled in and chatted with the lovely lady behind the counter and a few minutes later I walked out with my one-way permit! There went all of my morning…

    I headed back to my storage garage to once again swap in the E46 for the E36, made sure I had everything I could imagine, and headed to get new rear tires. Thankfully the local Discount Tire had Michelin Pilot Super Sports in stock, so I went to get the rears replaced since they were showing cord. Not ideal for an 1,100-mile road trip through what could be some blazing heat!

    After an hour or so, I rolled out of the tire shop and got on the freeway. Unfortunately I had spent almost the entire day running around town and it was now about 4 p.m. This means I would be rolling through Los Angeles right in the middle of rush hour.

    My plan for this trip was to bypass the normal I-5 route and instead take Highway 99. This was a longer route, but it would also pass through some larger cities which had BMW dealerships. Just in case I ended up broken down on the side of the road, I wouldn’t be far from service!

    Since it was August, it was really warm out and I was able to cruise through LA with the windows down. As I approached the grapevine though, I got a little nervous. I knew the cooling system was recently replaced, but I had already fixed one issue with the install. And the grapevine is notorious at killing cars with weak cooling systems!

    Just to be safe, I pulled into a middle lane and just cruised up the hill at a leisurely pace. I found myself constantly glancing at the temperature gauge to make sure it wasn’t creeping up. And to my surprise, it held rock steady right on the middle indicator line.

    Once I crested the grapevine, it was smooth sailing downhill and I continued to enjoy the new found joy of driving an older car. The radio didn’t work and I didn’t really care. The sunroof wouldn’t open, that kind of bummed me. And the suspension was so blown that every time I hit a bump, it wouldn’t stop bouncing!

    The car ran great and I cruised up the freeway late into the night. When I started to have trouble keeping my concentration, I pulled over for the night and found a small roadside hotel. I didn’t sleep much as I was afraid someone would steal my new car. It was that kind of place.

    When the sun rose the next morning, I topped off the coolant and got back on the road.

    As I cruised through Sacramento, the temperature rose above 110° and to my surprise, the M3’s A/C kept blowing cold and the temp never crept above the mid-point! I was very happy to see Mt. Shasta appear on the horizon as I knew I’d finally be leaving the unbearable heat behind me.

    I was happy to see the sunset as I drove through Oregon. I rolled the windows down and just enjoyed the drive. And as the long day turned into early the next morning, I pulled into my drive way and happily crashed in my bed.

    Over two days I drove 1,100 miles in a car that I knew little about. I was planning on an adventure filled with roadside repairs, and what I got was one which reminded me of the great feeling of just cruising.—Nate Risch

    Read the previous Project E36 M3 article and follow Nate on his adventures via Instagram and Twitter.