Club News
    Living With An E36 M3 Lightweight

    Written By Nick Owen, San Diego Chapter President

     

    This is a long overdue follow up to Project Lightweight that you may have read about over last summer. To make a long story short, I took the car to Monterey for Oktoberfest and it was great! The car looked incredible, it drove fantastically around town, and performed flawlessly on track at Laguna Seca.

    I was supposed to do a follow up column soo afterwards, but the truth is, life got busy. But here we are in February, and I still have an M3 Lightweight parked in my driveway!

    Very few of us ever get to live with an E36 M3 Lightweight. For me, I've gotten used to it, but it is still a very special car to have immediate access to.

    After Oktoberfest was over, I brought the car back to my home in San Diego and made a few small repairs to some things. One of them being an oil change. Good friends of mine, Cecil Perez and Ryan Castro of Motorsport Hardware and Fluids sent me a case of oil for the engine, transmission, and differential. I was a little hesitant at first about running a different kind of oil in this car, but Cecil and Ryan explained to me the compounds used in their fluids, which gave me a lot of clarity as to what exactly is in today's motor oil. So far the M3 likes it! Thanks again Ryan and Cecil!

    I also got it properly detailed from my new friend Xavier Beltran at Time to Shine Detail. Xavi came to my house and gave me the best bang for the buck shine he could muster given the car's imperfect paint texture on the roof and rear quarter panels.

    The paint felt smooth and healthy, a lot smoother than it was while the car was being fixed. The polish alone was absorbed almost instantly when applying because the paint was THAT dry. But after Xavi did some magic, the car shined beautifully!

    Once I got the car where I wanted it, it really just became a routine of taking the car out once in a while. Since the car doesn't have A/C, I'm not about to take it out for errands when it’s really hot. For the most part, it's tolerable in the car if you are wearing shorts, or if the ambient temperature is just right. But if the air flow stops and you end up in stop and go traffic, you're going to miss that air conditioning really quick!

    On the other hand, when I found myself out and about in a rain storm, the car's ability to produce heat was second to none. Not only does the car perform well in the wet but once you figure out how to regulate the interior windows fogging up in a heavy rain, the car is really easy to drive in the rain. Maybe it’s those Michelin Pilot Super Sports we put on it?

    I've been trying to figure out exactly what it is about this car that makes me smirk when I see it every day in my drive way. Is it because it’s a car that reminds me of my first alpine white E36 M3 from 10+ years ago? Or is it that this is a unique piece of BMW history? Maybe it’s because this car is just cool and special?

    If someone were to ask me what is my favorite aspect of this car, I would have to say its persona. This Lightweight is a good step or two from original but the way it has been altered, makes the car a real hoot to drive anywhere. The throttle is crisp, the power band is sufficient, and the noises it produces are more than enough to satisfy the engine note audiophile in all of us.

    So what is a like to live with a Lightweight? Joy. Pure, absolute, joy.

    There is no need to impress or show off your horsepower. There is no need to 'Jones' the car with modifications in order to meet an imaginary set of expectations. The car represents mechanical satisfaction and harmony in the simplest way. Every time I drive this car, I'm able to get my fix (if you know what I mean). Most of the time I get a wave from someone who recognizes the car and knows its place in BMW history. But most of all, it’s a car that you live with because you love it, and the joy it brings is the reason why we do what we do with our BMWs.—Nick Owen

    If you have some interesting content you'd like to submit for consideration, such as a story, pictures, or video, please e-mail Nate Risch, Roundel Weekly editor, at nrisch@bmwcca.org.