Recorded 2025-09-17:12:00-12:35 20250917_ZHP_Garage_Interview.mp3 Transcribed by VFM and Ai assistance ZHP: I put into here. Friday, I'm bringing it down here and doing the last odds and ends, okay, and then I'm loading it Sunday. ZHP: We gotta leave earlier, because I'm anticipating having to get a 9.99 license. I'm anticipating it much faster than that. Okay, so Monday, I gotta go early because I'm getting licensed. Okay? Monday, yeah, there's a Test and Tune deal Monday, so my Test and Tune would pretty much be licensing. I gotta make six passes to get licensed. ZHP: Well, the first one is like 60 foot, and then you go like 330 or something, then eighth mile, then 1000 foot, and then two passes that are full pass, that's pretty much all my Test and Tune. VFM: I came up with a couple of questions. I'm just going to give them to you, and we can for readers, new to our blog. Okay, what is ZHP garage in one sentence? ZHP: ZHP Garage is Ziegler horsepower. It's what my friend came up with back when I first started working on cars. I did a lot of engines, and I was known in Reno for engines and making power. My car was fast, so it's Ziegler horsepower. VFM: Give us a quick just give us a quick rundown spec sheet on the Silver Bullet, the '72 Camaro. ZHP: The accurate version, or the inaccurate version? Well, I'll go with accurate version, because it's gonna come out next week anyway. VFM: Well, sure, but I mean, you know, it's for our small car blog here. I mean, you can be as inaccurate as you'd like. ZHP The 72 Camaro is just a base model, full chrome bumper. Currently, it has the 565, Dual Dominator big block Chevy and a conventional big block Chevy, 980 deck, Mike's transmissions, Turbo 400 with the trans break, and a GM 12 bolt rear end. Full cage 8.50 certified. VFM: Do you make compromises for something like a drag and drive, like for your street versus your strip setup? ZHP: I would say, No compromise. You need the thing top notch. You need everything the best it could be. I mean, if you want to survive and be confident in it and have a good time, I'd say No compromise. I would say no compromise across the board, like even on a like your Corvette, on a regular street car, yeah, if you're gonna drive the thing every you don't want to break down, right? There'd be no compromising on what type of work is done, the quality of the work and the quality of the parts. VFM: Are you planning specific tuning between Street and Strip? This is over 800 miles of driving along with the quarter mile burns. ZHP: Nothing. The only thing I'm changing is I'm driving it on straight pump gas 91 octane, and then when I get to the track, I'm putting a higher octane. Depending on how much 91 Octane is still in the tank, I'll be diluting it with race gas. So if I have like a half a tank of 91 then I'm gonna buy five gallons of 116 in there to bring the octane up to race it. It is a little bit higher compression engine, so technically I shouldn't be driving it on pump gas. But being that, it's just a cruise low throttle, I'm confident I can do it. I do have some octane boosters. Then I'm going to each tank so I have 15 gallon cell. So each 15 gallons, I'm going to add a can, which I think is a quart of octane booster, which raises it five to eight points of octane rating. So that's what I'm gonna use on the drive. Just to be safe, I'm confident I can drive on 91 because of the cooler plugs and the tubing that it has in it right now. But nothing's changing on the carbs already set up, added a power valve to them, which brings the primary jetting down, which helps on the fuel mileage and the dry portion of it. And then wide open, it's already jetted and tuned. So the little of the elevation change, I don't think, is enough to worry about the size or jetting. VFM: Is there a specific track that you are looking forward to, given the differences between Coos Bay, Woodburn, Madras, ZHP: I'm looking forward to Woodburn. Woodburn was supposed to be the track. Last year, everybody said they made their personal best times and the cars ran amazing at Woodburn. So I'm going to the only thing I could change on the car is the launch RPM, or the launch style. So at Woodburn, I'm going to launch it as hard as I can launch it and give it all I can give it. And I'm hoping for my best pass at Woodburn. ZHP: Medford is the beginning in the end. So starts in Medford, Coos Bay, then up to Woodburn, and then the one they added. What's the one they added? Madras. Madras and then back to Medford, so Medford to start in the ending. That's why it's four tracks, five days. VFM: Is there a specific part that you'll over pack, like, will there? Is there something that that, like always got to have an extra one of these, maybe even two or three, even if that's an extra pair of socks. ZHP: I don't know. I'm pretty confident in the car I am going to bring a couple extra things, but over packing, I guess it'd be tools. I guess I'd be over packing tools, because I'm bringing my whole little toolbox, which is pretty overstocked. I'm bringing an extra fuel pump just because I have a new one, bringing an extra ignition box just because I have one. I didn't buy it to bring in. I just happen to have an extra set of spark plugs that I might change halfway through, just because of the fire of the ignition kind of burns them out, not because they're gonna wear, you know, fouling, or any other just because of the ignition voltage is what kills a spark plug. VFM: Will you can have challenges re-indexing on the fly like that? ZHP: ::Laughs:: They're not indexed now. VFM: I see, I see. ZHP: I might, nah, they're not indexed now, I'm not gonna worry about that. ZHP: I think, I guess the only thing you'd say that I'm over packing, in my opinion, would be tools, just because of the toolbox that I'm bringing, is my, well, versatile box. VFM: You got to bring the tools to play too, right? I mean, like, you want to be able to fix as you go. ZHP: I don't anticipate doing work on the car. I'm driving on the on the same tires, I'm not changing rear tires. It's a radial tire, so you don't really lower the air pressure too much. So if need be, I could drive it at the lower air pressure, but I'm just planning on stopping at a gas station when I get gas, putting a little air in the tires and just filling it up with straight pump gas. So I don't plan on changing anything with a car racing to drive, other than just adding race gas. VFM: For our readers that might be familiar with the 2023 Redwood rally in the 57 and the challenges that you had with the starter and such. You ended up doing a lot more work than I think you even anticipated. ZHP: So the 57, I don't know, I think I was a little, I guess, naive, you'd call it. The Camaro was always a car to go. And I only had, I think, 23 I think I started that thing like six, eight months prior. I was thinking I was gonna get it done. It wasn't even close. So the 57 was together, it was like a backup car. We had to do a couple things, and then, so it's kind of last minute. I wanted to change a couple things to it, and then it kind of snowballed. So I was messing with ignition, which made me have a problem with the starter before I left. I went to load the car, and then it wouldn't start. So I cranked it a lot longer and more than I should have. Okay, because I was messing with ignition. Come to find out, I didn't have any spark. I had the ignition messed up, so that I think fatigued the starter. The starter was used. The engine was used. I bought it off the marketplace, so I don't know how old the starter was. So that started the problem. And then we got up there, and right out of the gate started having problems. I figured out what the deal was with ignition, it was a points to style distributor that was converted to electronic that I thought had to go through a ballast resistor, and it didn't. So that's why I was having a problem starting at a very weak start. So once I eliminate the ballast resistor, it started, it worked. But then the starter was a problem. So I tried to get a starter and make it to the next checkpoint or a hotel stop point and change it, but it didn't make it. Other than the starter, though, 57 would be good, it was a driver. VFM: Does that experience drive some of the tools that you take today mean, like, maybe a little bit in the overpack side, like the just in case. ZHP: I don't know. I think it just, I don't want to be like arrogant, I think I'm just confident on the ability, the quality of the parts and the way the car is built. I think it can make 800 miles no problem, without having a lot of tear down, you know. I got a cooler, keeps the fuel cool, which will keep the Pump cool, which is a lot of problems with electric pumps, is they get hot, mines mounted in a high airflow ventilated area. The ignition is new. I mean, the car is quality parts, yeah, I think it's built right. So I'm confident. ZHP: I am kind of limited, though, because the oil pan that is on it, I can't check oil level, so I talk to whatever it is in it. So I gotta keep track, you know, if it's I see a leak or something, or if I'm, like, seeing a lot of smoke all of a sudden, and I'm a little worried about oil, but the only way I could really know the level is to drain it and put in what it holds, the capacity. So that's one thing that's got me a little worried. I don't think in 1000 miles it's gonna have a crazy oil consumption then. I mean, it's got like, eight quarts in there, seven quarts in it. So I don't see a crazy oil consumption problem. VFM: If a pass goes sideways on you, not literally sideways, but if you're if something feels off or wrong, is there a reset procedure that you have for yourself, like, all right, we gotta kind of go back and sort of double check these things before I get back out there again? Is there a specific sort of walkthrough that you have? ZHP: Well, I've driven the car for a long time in a lot of different combinations, a lot of different tracks. So if something's off with the car at this point, it's more of the track prep or something got on the track, ahead of me, like somebody ran ahead of me and leaked a little fluid that did the track officials didn't see. So then I would just double check if I had a problem, if car got crazy or something happened. I would check and make sure the car wasn't leaking, for one, to get any fluids on the tires. And then if that was all good, then my next pass, I would try it again, and I would do a different lane, do the other lane, to see if there was something that got in the lane. For the most part, the car drives you don't think you're going that fast. The car drives very smooth and straight. It's very sound. VFM: Is there a rule that you live by in terms of, testing and tuning, where you sort of change one thing at a time? before moving on? ZHP: Yes, for the most part, unless it's like, a new a new car, new build, yeah, there's a lot of stuff that's just out of whack. Then I'll probably do four or five at the same time, just because I know everything is. Well, yeah, on the so on this event, like, if I'm having, if it's, like, say it's wheeling or something, or just coming out a little crooked, then I'm gonna do one thing at a time. Yeah, I might, you know, just, you know, slow up the front, you know, just front shocks a little bit on the next one. Or maybe just turn the Calvert bar, you know, half a flat, they call it, you know, just give it a little change in the suspension, load, preload. That would be very minor. Definitely, one at a time. Things at that point, just because of the where the cars at now it's pretty dialed in. So anything's a little off, it would be minor, one adjustment at a time, VFM: Do you guys be doing anything special for the trip, broadcasting, sharing? I know that there's like a live stream that they're gonna do this year. ZHP: So little ZHP is going to be doing just pretty much us, not the event, yeah, because I think he's going to drive separately, which gives him a little more time, because my travel time is obviously slower, and I got to beat the track. And so I think, just for ease of me, I think we're gonna drive two vehicles on the route, and then he can carry his all his gear, but he's gonna record us, and then it'll be a video after. ZHP: I want to do one before we leave, like either a short or just a reel short video. Just say where we're at, and everything but I don't know if there is gonna be time wise. So I think maybe after the event, I don't know, we have some footage like the Barona, the stuff that we did. I'd like to do a little video before we go, just saying what we did, what we changed, changed the tranny. That's the old tranny there that had the super tall gear in it. So that was, I think, you know, it is a lot snappier and faster. Now new converter in there, even faster than it was. Big change to the bottom end so it's going to get the ET a lot quicker. So I like to do a video beforehand on that. But just timewise, maybe if it's a quick 10 minutes we might be able to get it done. VFM: Are you going, you know, like pure fastest elapsed time here, or you have to, you have to bracket it? ZHP: My class I'm in is an average of all the tracks, so the lower your average is the very right on the board. So I'm hanging everything out, throwing kitchen sink, so it's gonna be as fast as the car is every time. That's what I'm gonna do. So everything, like I said, the only things I'm gonna change is the tracks like Coos-Bay, everybody says it's like a well prepped Street. So on that track, I'm probably just gonna leave like a foot break. Medford is better, so I have a two step so I might leave it like 2,500 3,000 RPMs or something. And then Woodburn, and I might leave a full stall of the converter, 4,500 or whatever. VFM: What was the strategy at Barona? ZHP: Well, I did both ways. I did when we raced first time. Well, first time we raced I smoked the tires, but I did make the second pass I did foot brake. The converter in the car at that time was, was 5000 RPMs only the trans brake. So the third pass, whatever, I did trans brake and then, so that's 5000 but it was super tall gear. So the engine speed was up, but it was still low. Sort of bogged it when it hit, yeah, it didn't change anything. I'm anticipating winning the NA class. VFM: The road-leg soundtrack, this is the important bit, have some favorite tracks to share with our readers ZHP: Just for the most part, I'll have ears plugged and just zoning out, thinking about the day and the next day, and just game plan in my head and just drive a car, just enjoy the moment. The initial cruising, the initial couple stages is on the 101, which is windy and the car likes to go straight, it doesn't like turning. So you really got to concentrate, keep it turning. So, yeah, the first couple legs, I'm gonna be concentrating on driving, you know, trying to figure out fuel mileage, which is kind of nice. I do have a speedo in it, so I have an odometer, So I can figure out an average and I'm gonna carry a gas can in case. VFM: Is there a certain element of the pressure of problem solving on the fly? I'm far from home, right? Is that part of the draw of an event like this? It's not just going somewhere to race and coming home. ZHP: Well, that's the challenge. Yeah, this would be a draw. You can find it exciting. Sure. Have the challenge. Can my in theory, full race car, be driven 800 to 1000 miles with no problems. You know, a lot of these race cars that are designated race cars have a very small cooling system. Mine doesn't have a heater. You know, a lot of them don't have heaters that you see, so I don't have wipers because of the fact that when I put the roll bar in it, was in the way. I haven't had time to modify it to the wipers back on it. So there is the challenge or the risk. And like I said, I'm driving on tires that are designated race tires. So if it gets rain, yeah? And I have hydroplaning I gotta worry about, you gotta take it slow. Do drive the car a lot more than a race car. So cooling I am confident with I don't have it here. So if it is cold, and then I start having, you know, my windshield frost fogging up, yeah, it's definitely a challenge. But that does bring excitement. Yes, it does. Yeah, if it does get crazy to the fact that, right, I can't drive, I'm gonna pull over and sleep in the car like, that's my stopping. I'm hoping that it goes good at the track. I'm first, you know, first down the track. I'm happy with the pass. Because about if the pass isn't good, I gotta wait for everybody to go through to get back in there and make another one. ZHP: So if my initial was no good I am stuck there longer. I'm hoping the first one's good. I'm hoping I can read the track I leave with the combination that is going to stick and make a good pass so I can get out in daylight, in case it does rain. Then it's not just as dark, you know, it could be overcast, but it won't be as dark, right? Then I can see more. I am going to, you know, Rain X the windshield to help. So, yeah, I mean, it does bring the excitement. VFM: Get out there, like Ace Ventura, you know, just clean the windshield. ZHP: But yeah, I feel like I'm good at problem solving, and I guess using MacGyvering if there's a pinch like you can steal a bolt from one place to put it somewhere else, if need be, sure, sure, you know, you don't need.. VFM: A 12 bolt rear-end can be an 11 bolt, yeah, and still work. ZHP: Yeah, you know, if need be, you know, you can steal one from the carburetor, sure, if you need it for something else. Yeah, I think I'm pretty good problem solving all around. VFM: Is there a favorite aspect of the Redwood Rally beyond the racing? ZHP: I like it a lot because Little ZHP goes, and it's a good bonding, it's a memory that, especially when he records, it's a memory that will always be there. It's trick, because we've done a lot of road trips, a lot of crazy things most people wouldn't think of, you know, classified it is cool, like, we gotta get got that 57 we pick that thing up. We slept in the trailer. We drove through the night like it was cool. You won't forget about it. And then we get older, you remember that he's got all of it recorded.