Road Trip!!

[jonnyodoherty]

Hi e21 forum,

I just thought i would post as im traveling over to Munich, Germany this july in my e21 316 for my girlfriends 21st and to re-visit where the car was manufactured in 1982 + take pics etc.

Yes, all the way from the North West England down to folkestone over to Calais onto Belgum, Luxembourgh and into Germany finaly reaching Munich. Which will be about a 2000mile round trip. Camping all along the way.

Has anyone every attempted the trip?

Any tips for such a long journey in a e21?

Any comments welcome!!

Jonny

[Peter V.]

Search the forum is would say.

Lars had a europetrip with more then double that distance. There are some that had more then one alptrip with the E21 so everything is possible.

Make sure you have the basic parts in your trunk. Because not every garage has them in stock.

[jonnyodoherty]

Search the forum is would say.

Lars had a europetrip with more then double that distance. There are some that had more then one alptrip with the E21 so everything is possible.

Make sure you have the basic parts in your trunk. Because not every garage has them in stock.

Thanks for the advice i will search the forum.
What basic parts would you reccomend?
i will be getting it serviced and MOT'd before the trip.

Jonny

[Peter V.]

The things we had for spare in the alps are for example:

* enginebelts
* Thermostaat
* Coolinghoses
* Brakeswitch, calipers, brakepads.
* The usual oil, coolant, sparkplugs, ignitionparts etc etc.

Most important is that you are for sure that the car is in good shape technical because the smallest things can give you a big problem.

[Lars-Nord]

We did not have brakepad`s. But those they have in every old BMW garage..... Not.

Go for the trip. I did 7800 km in two weeks, and 5000 more that summer, and that was ...a lot of driving. I do it agian tomorrow if I have to, with the 323. BUT.... my car is in exelent codition. Like new.

If you have som problems. Use the forum and get help. In Germany, Belgium and Netherland you get help. I guess we all want you to have a nice tour and bring the girl back to her bornplace.

Today I drove 240 kilometers just to get a sausage. Pure fun;-)

[jonnyodoherty]

Thanks for the advice guys!

The car is in very good shape. Engine running fantastic, never let me down. Done nearly 3000miles this year.



Jonny

[Tricky8034]

I took the old girl back to Munich last year for her 30th birthday. (1982 320 BAUR)

We came up from the south though as drove all the way down to Naples Italy first, via Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Switzerland etc. On the way back we went through Austria to Berchesgarden and then onto Munich, with a final stop in Adenau before home. 8/9 days in total with a lot of driving, 3200+ miles.

This was my 4th European road trip in my E21 so pretty confident in its abilites although she did show her age and gave us a few problems.

The power steering gave up on our 2nd day in Sarnen just as we were about to tackle the swiss passes. We managed to trace the fault to a torn hose which fortunately we had a spare for in the boot.

We also developed an oil leak at some point, used up most of the brakes and a wheel bearing.

We carry most fluids/bulbs/hoses/tools etc but most importantly AA European Breakdown cover!

Will post a couple of pics of my E21 outside the BMW plant when a can get my flickr account working again.

When are you planning on going to Munich?

[Jeroen]

We did a couple of those road trips and I can only recommend doing a little tour. For me that should always include a little Alps detour. Well detour, Munich os not that far so it is easy to do the south of Germany, Austria and Italy (some lakes and passes even down to lake Garda) in a week. I'd stay away from Switzerland though. Prices for food, hotels etc are more than double those of the surrounding countries and speeding fines start at around a zillion Euros.

I've been doing Alps trips at least once a year for over a decade now so if you'd like some advice just tell me what your plans are and I'll try to connect some dots with demanding detours

Some reports with pics:
2010 E21's Alps trip + visit to BMW
2011 E21's Alps trip + visit to Alpina
2012 E30 Alps & Italy holiday

[jonnyodoherty]

I took the old girl back to Munich last year for her 30th birthday. (1982 320 BAUR)

We came up from the south though as drove all the way down to Naples Italy first, via Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Switzerland etc. On the way back we went through Austria to Berchesgarden and then onto Munich, with a final stop in Adenau before home. 8/9 days in total with a lot of driving, 3200+ miles.

This was my 4th European road trip in my E21 so pretty confident in its abilites although she did show her age and gave us a few problems.

The power steering gave up on our 2nd day in Sarnen just as we were about to tackle the swiss passes. We managed to trace the fault to a torn hose which fortunately we had a spare for in the boot.

We also developed an oil leak at some point, used up most of the brakes and a wheel bearing.

We carry most fluids/bulbs/hoses/tools etc but most importantly AA European Breakdown cover!

Will post a couple of pics of my E21 outside the BMW plant when a can get my flickr account working again.

When are you planning on going to Munich?

Sounds like you had an amazing time!!
This is my first venture into europe driving and will be the longest journey in the 316.
The duration of the trip will be 13/14 days (the maxuium amount of time i can get off work). Camping on the way for 2days at a time, gradually getting closer to Munich, so the amount of driving shouldnt seem too much and gives her a rest a couple of days at a time.

The advice is muchly appreciated as i may of not even considerd such parts and fluids and i 100% intend on getting euopean breakdown cover!!

Yeah post the pics!! Can you freely put the car on the pavement/outside the plant to take pictures with no hasstle?

Hopefully going mid July weekend in the 13th.

Jonny

[jonnyodoherty]

We did a couple of those road trips and I can only recommend doing a little tour. For me that should always include a little Alps detour. Well detour, Munich os not that far so it is easy to do the south of Germany, Austria and Italy (some lakes and passes even down to lake Garda) in a week. I'd stay away from Switzerland though. Prices for food, hotels etc are more than double those of the surrounding countries and speeding fines start at around a zillion Euros.

I've been doing Alps trips at least once a year for over a decade now so if you'd like some advice just tell me what your plans are and I'll try to connect some dots with demanding detours

Some reports with pics:
2010 E21's Alps trip + visit to BMW
2011 E21's Alps trip + visit to Alpina
2012 E30 Alps & Italy holiday

Thanks for the reply Jeroen.
We have planned streight into belgum(Bruges) (Namur). Then onto luxembourgh then onto germany(Strasbourgh) then onto Munich travelling back through the North of france!

Have you been this way before?

[Jeroen]

Been to all these locations, but on a different route coming more from the north. How much time you want to take for this trip?

[Reck]

Don't forget tools and a decent jack.

It would be good to get a bit of an 'official' E21 roadtrip checklist going with essential items (both spares and tools). I carry around a few parts all the time (at one point I had an M10 head, two alternators, numerous bushes, a full set of new coolant pipes, a radiator and calipers in my boot - but that's just impractical..). Please feel free to add to the following..

* Engine belts - power steering, fanbelt, Cambelt?
* Thermostat
* Cooling hoses - esp radiator upper and lower
* The usual oil, coolant
* sparkplugs, dizzy cap, rotor arm, HT Leads
* Bullet fuses
* Bulbs
* spare wheel/tyre
* wire and twist connectors
* throttle cable/bike brake line

Anything else? Also what about some common tools?

* Pliers (needle + vice)
* Screwdrivers
* Open end spanners in sizes... Xmm, Xmm, Xmm etc. < My memory fails me, someone please complete this for me
* Sockets in above sizes
* Jack (perhaps an axel stand too?)
* Duck tape / electrical tape
* Torch

[Tricky8034]

Yeah, there is a man patrolling outside the main building and we were trying to hatch a plan to get a quick sneaky picture of the car with the BMW Welt in the back ground.

In the end we decided just to pull up and ask him if we could take a quick pic and he said "yeah park anywhere you like".

Result!

I took the old girl back to Munich last year for her 30th birthday. (1982 320 BAUR)

We came up from the south though as drove all the way down to Naples Italy first, via Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Switzerland etc. On the way back we went through Austria to Berchesgarden and then onto Munich, with a final stop in Adenau before home. 8/9 days in total with a lot of driving, 3200+ miles.

This was my 4th European road trip in my E21 so pretty confident in its abilites although she did show her age and gave us a few problems.

The power steering gave up on our 2nd day in Sarnen just as we were about to tackle the swiss passes. We managed to trace the fault to a torn hose which fortunately we had a spare for in the boot.

We also developed an oil leak at some point, used up most of the brakes and a wheel bearing.

We carry most fluids/bulbs/hoses/tools etc but most importantly AA European Breakdown cover!

Will post a couple of pics of my E21 outside the BMW plant when a can get my flickr account working again.

When are you planning on going to Munich?

Sounds like you had an amazing time!!
This is my first venture into europe driving and will be the longest journey in the 316.
The duration of the trip will be 13/14 days (the maxuium amount of time i can get off work). Camping on the way for 2days at a time, gradually getting closer to Munich, so the amount of driving shouldnt seem too much and gives her a rest a couple of days at a time.

The advice is muchly appreciated as i may of not even considerd such parts and fluids and i 100% intend on getting euopean breakdown cover!!

Yeah post the pics!! Can you freely put the car on the pavement/outside the plant to take pictures with no hasstle?

Hopefully going mid July weekend in the 13th.

Jonny

[jonnyodoherty]

Thanks very much for the advice guys.

Will be on my way on the 14th July.

Having her serviced last week of june (warts and all) not a regular service.

And then MOT start of July ready for the trip.

Wish me luck!!!

Jonny
BMW E21 316 1982

[TopCat]

one thing I did find useful was a Stant high pressure radiator cap

did 1000kms in slightly overheating Alpina to collect from Switzerland some 2 years ago- that rad cap saved us!