MGB Status: What Have I Done?

It's Sunday morning as I open the garage, I see the wings laying on the ground, the rusted bonnet, the faceless car with lights, bumper and grill all gone. I walk into the garage, tools all over the floor, the interior gutted, nothing left on the doors except the bare metal.

What have I done? I can't drive it. I can't test anything on it. The distance between where it is and where I want it to be is so long.

Doesn't matter. I only have an hour or two to do something. Let's take the radiator out today.

The MGB

Majority of the interior has been removed, except the headlining. The seats, the carpets, dashboard and center console are out. I've stripped down the doors, trims, and seals. I've started removing things from the engine compartment, like the radiator, and next on the agenda are the heater, electrics, fluids, and these types of things.

The wiring loom is still in, and I want to map the electrical system, as best I can, before I pull it.

The big question is how far I can/should take this strip down before I take it to the shop to fix the rust and paint. I think I'll leave at least the steering and suspension so it's easier to move it. I may also keep the brakes and drivetrain, although I would love to be able to take out the engine and drivetrain to restore it.

I'm leaning toward leaving the drivetrain in for now, but I haven't decided.

Battery Monitor PoC

Figuring out how to protect the ESP32's ADC input pin is the top priority. The 3.6V Zener I had caused a 12V input to read as ~7.3V, and I don't know why or what to do about it. I'm also investigating clamping alternatives.

I have yet to add a fuse to protect the whole system and a TVS diode protect the circuit from voltage spikes. They will need to be integrated and tested. I intent on reviewing the design to ensure I'm not missing anything important or could be done better.

Once that initial design is solid, with the core components set, I will look into transitioning away from the STEVAL-A6983CV1 evaluation board and find or design a robust buck converter.

While I'm at it I want to double check if the ESP32 is the right choice or not. Not that I have anything else in mind and the ESP32 is solid. I want to do a little bit of research on this, mostly to ensure power efficiency.

Once I have these in place, I'll start moving to a permanent board, alongside find/design an enclosure for it, and where I would want to have it on the car.

The Digital Logbook

I've completed the initial prototype and it looks good. Meaning everything seems to work and is fairly smooth. You can register, log in, manage vehicles, track jobs, and upload photos for both vehicles and jobs.

I have named it 'Tala', meaning both number and to speak in Icelandic. Trying to reflect what it does, communicating data effectively.

Next I need to actively use it while stripping the car down and doing other jobs/projects related to the car to get a better feel for it and what needs improving for this first version to get into a solid state.

Once this initial version is at a place where I'm happy with it and the battery monitor is also (mostly) done, the next phase would be to get the data from the monitor into the logbook for real-time monitoring. This would also lay the ground for future projects, like a GPS.

What's Next

There are few things in progress but I need to start working on them again. Starting with the battery monitor, and actively use Tala.

Next up: figure out the ADC clamp, properly this time.