If all goes according to plan, this afternoon I'll be $1800 the richer from the sale of my now largely unused SL-2. I definitely chose wisely with SWMBO as she of her own accord told me that I should be using the money from it 'other car stuff'.

I basically have two different routes that I'm considering taking with the money from the sale:

1. Use it to have an electrician come out and diagnose and fix the electrical out to my garage. About a month and a half ago after a big rain storm the breaker for the garage circuit started tripping, and after my testing have narrowed the problem down to most likely being the buried line that runs underground out to the garage- meaning it won't be particularly cheap. In the intervening time, I have run a long outdoor extension cord from the house out to the garage to give me light, some music, and power small power tools. It works, but it's not sufficient to power things like my compressor or the welder that I'll be needing when I get into really working on the El Camino. Whatever money (if any) is left from having the electrical fixed would be used as seed money to buy a car to fix up and re-sell.

2. There is a 2005 Prius for sale here that just went up yesterday with an asking price of $2500 OBO. Listing currently has no pictures, and makes it sound like there's something potentially really wrong with the engine. I went out and looked at it and took it for a drive around the block yesterday, and while it definitely will need a LOT of work (it was used as a beater/transport for a very small child- the interior needs the bleach equivalent of a bug bomb...) both cosmetically and mechanically, it's driveable and it seems that simply replacing a spark plug resolved the engine issue that was posted about. In 'fair' condition, blue book for a 2005 Prius is about $3700; In 'good' condition, it's over $4k. It would need several hundred dollars of work- it definitely needs new tires for example (~$300) and will doubtless need some little things (and possibly big). I figure I could offer them what I get for the Saturn and if they for go for that I'd have the potential to make another $1000 or so after fixing it up- and in the mean time (after lots and lots of cleaning...) could let SWMBO drive it while I look at the suspension on her Mariner.

So- either I jump right into fixing up and selling a car and deal with the limited electrical in the garage until after it sells, or knock the electrical out from the get-go and start off with a cheaper car to fix up and re-sell. Thoughts?

My vote is for #2 if it won't detract from #1 for too long.. it's always nice to have some equity to throw at a problem and not be set back to 0..

If it would set back the El project for a while, go with #1, and forget about #2.. Life is too short to work on boring cars :)

purchase Prius, run outlets in garage off of Prius when parked

For #1, typically underground cable would be run through a conduit, which may be broken. I'd look at trying to pull a new wire through the existing conduit. Worst case it doesn't work, best case you get proper power to the garage again.

Or you could replace the underground line with an overhead one.

Either way, the drawback would be having to kill power to both sides to properly disconnect the wiring before yanking on it.

So my vote would be #1 after the GRM solution fails.

turboswede wrote: For #1, typically underground cable would be run through a conduit, which may be broken. I'd look at trying to pull a new wire through the existing conduit. Worst case it doesn't work, best case you get proper power to the garage again. Or you could replace the underground line with an overhead one. Either way, the drawback would be having to kill power to both sides to properly disconnect the wiring before yanking on it. So my vote would be #1 after the GRM solution fails.

As near as I can tell the wire isn't in conduit- it looks like it just goes straight into the ground from the (very much not up to any code that ever existed) junction box under the deck. And it comes in through a hole in the side of the garage that is under ground level on the outside (the garage is build on a slope that is cut away for it). I had considered just getting the wire to hook it straight back up either overhead or some other way, but the subpanel in the garage that splits off for 110V and 220V is also very questionable and I was told when I bought the house that it would need to be re-done down the line since it wasn't fused properly to be safe.

WonkoTheSane wrote: My vote is for #2 if it won't detract from #1 for too long.. it's always nice to have some equity to throw at a problem and not be set back to 0.. If it would set back the El project for a while, go with #1, and forget about #2.. Life is too short to work on boring cars :)

It would set the El Camino back a few months most likely in fixing up the Prius and then working on the Mariner. Would still hope to be able to try and get the Elky back in work by the end of the year.

1 is my vote

Ashyukun wrote:

turboswede wrote: For #1, typically underground cable would be run through a conduit, which may be broken. I'd look at trying to pull a new wire through the existing conduit. Worst case it doesn't work, best case you get proper power to the garage again. Or you could replace the underground line with an overhead one. Either way, the drawback would be having to kill power to both sides to properly disconnect the wiring before yanking on it. So my vote would be #1 after the GRM solution fails.

As near as I can tell the wire isn't in conduit- it looks like it just goes straight into the ground from the (very much not up to any code that ever existed) junction box under the deck. And it comes in through a hole in the side of the garage that is under ground level on the outside (the garage is build on a slope that is cut away for it). I had considered just getting the wire to hook it straight back up either overhead or some other way, but the subpanel in the garage that splits off for 110V and 220V is also very questionable and I was told when I bought the house that it would need to be re-done down the line since it wasn't fused properly to be safe.

In that case, I'd fix the power issue first. You'll use the garage much more often and not having decent power could lead to a failure to finish the Elky or having to stop that project while you save money to fix the garage.

Option #2 Simply because it is an opportunity that will not come along every day. I also agree with trying to pull a new wire through the existing conduit. You have nothing to loose and everything to gain.

I know a few local electricians, let me find out which one wants to do a small side job for cheap.

If you want the Prius owner to come down on their price much, don't show up in the DeLorian.

KyAllroad wrote: I know a few local electricians, let me find out which one wants to do a small side job for cheap. If you want the Prius owner to come down on their price much, don't show up in the DeLorian.

That would be greatly appreciated- I'm more than willing to do a good bit of the work (like digging) myself, but want to make sure that everything is safe and I won't have to fix it again for a long time.

Don't worry, I showed up yesterday in the Saturn and would either be meeting them by walking from work or having SWMBO drive me in the Mariner, I figure driving the D when looking at trying to get a car cheaply is very rarely going to be to my advantage.

Having run a garage off an extension cord for a decade or so, you'll be fine.

Ashyukun wrote: It would set the El Camino back a few months most likely in fixing up the Prius and then working on the Mariner. Would still hope to be able to try and get the Elky back in work by the end of the year.

The question is how much will it set the elky back by working on the Mariner anyway? That can be deducted from the total that the prius will set you back.. It may actually be a net advantage, if you would have to drag the Mariner in every night and re-setup to work on it (every night you want to work on it, you have to get it back up on jack stands/whatever, thrash to get that one piece redone THAT NIGHT because income relies on it working right the next morning, etc). . You may find that 5 or 6 hours spent cleaning the Prius will save you a total of 10 or 20 hours of setup/teardown on the Mariner.

Of course, I don't know the status/complexity of either vehicle, nor the jobs you need to do both, so your mileage will vary...

step 1, but rent trencher at home depot, lay pvc conduit, run 4 gauge main to garage from a 60 amp breaker in house box, run sub panel in garage with 220.

the single 20 amp line to my garage was in dirt, 6" deep romex only no conduit when i bought the place. now it's 2 feet deep in 2" conduit, and i even pulled a door opener wire through with the main lines. they put conduit elbows into the ground, presumably to fool the inspectors, and they stopped a couple inches deep.

and do step 2 with all the $ you saved doing step one yourself.

Fix the garage.

WonkoTheSane wrote: The question is how much will it set the elky back by working on the Mariner anyway? That can be deducted from the total that the prius will set you back.. It may actually be a net advantage, if you would have to drag the Mariner in every night and re-setup to work on it (every night you want to work on it, you have to get it back up on jack stands/whatever, thrash to get that one piece redone THAT NIGHT because income relies on it working right the next morning, etc). . You may find that 5 or 6 hours spent cleaning the Prius will save you a total of 10 or 20 hours of setup/teardown on the Mariner. Of course, I don't know the status/complexity of either vehicle, nor the jobs you need to do both, so your mileage will vary...

I'm not entirely too concerned about the delay in working on the Elky- it's been delayed quite a while already so a bit longer won't be too much of a concern. I won't be working on the Mariner piecemeal- I plan regardless to have it down for a week or so since it's the suspension on the whole that I think needs to be refreshed. Regardless, I'll need something else for SWMBO to drive- she can't drive a manual, so it will have to wait until I have another car with an automatic fixed up for her to use temporarily.

Number 2 sounds like an easy flip. Spend a saturday doing a deep clean, put some tires on it and take some good pictures. Should be a fast sale if you price it right.

If you need the money, you need the money!

Working on the things you love is important, but taking care of the basics is more important. If you feel the need to flip a car for cash, you prolly need the cash ;)

1. Does it freeze there? If so, the Garage may be put off for another 4-6 months by winter. Digging in frozen ground sucks.

2. Prius sounds like it might be fun to play with, but I would ask SWMBO and put it to her the same way you put it to us.

Volunteering to help with the digging labor may help with the cost of the electrician. then again, I don't know how long of a run you've got. I know the run to our shop is almost 200'. THAT SUCKED in FL springtime weather. much less frosty stuff.

HiTempguy wrote: If you need the money, you need the money! Working on the things you love is important, but taking care of the basics is more important. If you feel the need to flip a car for cash, you prolly need the cash ;)

Heh. Honestly, we don't need the money- I'm more interested in flipping cars more for getting paid at least a little for doing what I love- wrenching on cars- than out of a need for the money itself.

Can you be more specific about the electrical problem? If the tripping breaker is in the garage it is probably not the line feeding it from the house. This may be an easier fix then you think.

D2W wrote: Can you be more specific about the electrical problem? If the tripping breaker is in the garage it is probably not the line feeding it from the house. This may be an easier fix then you think.

Nope- the breaker tripping is the big double breaker on the main box in the house. The garage 'subpanel' has fuses- which only protect the two 110V lines and don't AT ALL protect the 220V outlet. I've disconnected everything past the junction box under the deck, and the breaker stayed on for two days. When I reconnect the underground line to the main breaker at the junction box but disconnect it from everything else in the garage so that the ONLY thing different is that the wire that runs underground is hooked up, the breaker won't stay on for more than an hour and often won't stay for a second after I flip it on.

Ashyukun wrote:

D2W wrote: Can you be more specific about the electrical problem? If the tripping breaker is in the garage it is probably not the line feeding it from the house. This may be an easier fix then you think.

Nope- the breaker tripping is the big double breaker on the main box in the house. The garage 'subpanel' has fuses- which only protect the two 110V lines and don't AT ALL protect the 220V outlet. I've disconnected everything past the junction box under the deck, and the breaker stayed on for two days. When I reconnect the underground line to the main breaker at the junction box but disconnect it from everything else in the garage so that the ONLY thing different is that the wire that runs underground is hooked up, the breaker won't stay on for more than an hour and often won't stay for a second after I flip it on.

Find an equipment rental place closed on Sundays. Rent a "Ditch Witch" or something similar on Saturday morning (You typically get Sunday for free). Buy some conduit and the right gauge wiring and run it yourself. Do yourself a favor and install a Breaker box in the garage and hook the new line to it. If you have a "Habitat for humanity Re-Store all of this can be purchased inexpensively)

THEN......Call the electrician to come and properly swap out your old fuse box, for the breaker box, and connect your service line to the MAIN panel in the house. Preferably on it's own 220 breaker.

Lastly, Scrap the OLD wiring, no sense in NOT capturing those few dollars.

Then go buy the prius, because you should still have plenty of $$ left over!

Thanks everyone for all the great tips and suggestions for fixing the garage electric! There are definitely some things I hadn't thought of that should really lower the cost to being reasonable.

And barely 24 hours after signing over the title on the Saturn I was signing the title for a 2005 Prius- for the exact same $1800 that the Saturn sold for. I'll be starting a thread on it later. Thanks again!

I had a similar electrical issue between house and garage. It was not that hard to run a new line. 95'

Call and get the yard checked for utilities first!!!

The ditch witch trencher is very easy to use. I just used it then returned it for a half day rental.

I tied and taped a string onto a piece of steel rod and slid it through the conduit as I laid in the trench so I could pull the wire through.

I used direct burial cable and only put conduit where it went through the driveway. less than a 500$ job