BST Garage

10/27/2026

Last week update.

Tuesday- we got the box from the big box store and got the seals changed on the 3rd member and axles. Then we got the transmission up in place, only loosly installed the bolts, filled with alittle bit of fluid, installed the torque converter and then hooked evweything up.

Friday- we got the rest of the stuff we needed for the motor. After we tried to install a fitting on the water neck housing we realized it wouldn't work, so we need to order more parts, lol

Today- was a very good and busy day.

1. We got the 3rd member up and in place, now just waiting for the RTV to dry up and then we can torque it all up. Installed the drive shaft.

2. We installed the back intake fittings installed, we filled the eng with oil, primed the eng, installed the distributor. Then we took the end off the stand and installed the flywheel. Only thing left is to install it and thats what we did.

3. Hooked up the torque converter and torque down the transmission mount.

4. We prefit the exhaust and marked where the new O2 sensors will go, made sure we had room and then got the exhaust ready for the new bungs to be welded on

So all 3 major parts are now back in the racecar. We have a ton of little things to hook up, but today was huge!

Stay tuned for what we get done tomorrow.

Thanks for the support

10/20/2026

Today was a very busy day.

1st we got the fuel tank back in the firebird and all hooked back up. We jacked up the front of the car and looked into the clutch pedal adjustment and found it to be good. So were done with this project.

2nd we got the rearend all cleaned up on the racecar. So its ready to go back together once we get seals. Next we moved to the trans and got the scatter shield bolted back on as well as the trans cooler. Then we got it back under the frame and got the mid plate setting in place, so its ready to all go back in place. Next we moved to the motor. We found a couple plugs that are different sizes from the old intake so we had to order more parts to fix that issue. We cleaned all the sealing surfaces for the upper radiator outlet and for the water pump. Once that was all cleaned up we installed with rtv and ran the bolts down, but not torque, well do that tomorrow once the rtv is dried. We installed the pulley for the alternator on the crank. We installed the oil dipstick and the new oil filter, as well as the valve covers, but there basicaly just sitting on there for now. Thats about as far as we can go till we get parts and the rtv dries.

Tomorrow the plan is to get the trans filled with fluid and installed. Finish up as much of the motor as we can. Its coming together.

Stay tuned and thanks for the support.

10/19/2026

Weekend update.

Sat we made the drive over to my buddies house in st pete/tampa/Seminole fl to put the motor back together since he had a new timing chain gear set to fit the new cam. I get there we pull the van out, it starts raining, we put up the canopy and get to it. Im cleaning the sealing surfaces for the new seals, got all that done. Get everything cleaned up, l**e up the cam and get it installed. We install the new crank gear, get it TDC, go to put the cam gear on to line everything up and we have the old retainer clip, but it doesn't fit the new cam gear. So new cam, new gear set, new cam button, but no retainer. So we call the speed shop and they inform us that clip for the cam we have doesn't exist. We have to get a timing cover with a build in cam button. So we go to the speed shop. Once there we figure out it wont work. So my thought is this. My buddy has been here buying stuff and they know what were trying to do, and wait till we hit the brick wall to tell us that the rabbit hole we've been going down is a lost cause and now a wasted trip 3hrs away to figure this out, WTF!! They seem pretty smart, and its probably my fault for not knowing what I dont know. But im pretty sure this shouldve been figured out before we got to this point! But here we are, were done for the day 2 hrs after I get there. We pack everything up and go back to the speed shop to return all the parts bought that wont work and now have to return the cam to the big box store and get the correct cam and then start all over again. So we go to lunch and then I head home early, still not done with the motor. Here's to trip number 3!

Sun, we got the rear-end out of the racecar, everyrhing looked good on the gears which I was happy about. Just waiting on the new seals to get it all put back together.
After that, we got the new fuel sender in the firebird fuel tank so its ready to reinstall.

Tomorrow should be a very busy day in the shop with getting everything ready on the racecar to reinstall and get the tank reinstalled on the bird.

Stay tuned and thanks for the support.

10/17/2026

Been a crazy day today.

1st we took an 1.5ish drive one way to pick up the motor from the machine shop for the racecar. Special thanks to them for not only getting the motor back to us super fast, but for taking the time to sit with me and discuss the issues with the motor and how to do better at preventing them from happing again along with alot of other stuff. If you need any machine work done, hit them up. Got the motor unloaded and now on our eng stand to start putting it back together and getting it and everything else put back in the car.

2nd we took the wheels off to start doing some cleanup and noticed a stain on the inside of one of the rear tires, yep you guessed it. Axle seal is leaking, so now we have to take the rear-end apart to fix that. As if we didn't have enough work to do to get it back together, lol. Parts are ordered.

3rd, we got a shipment from the parts store and we verified that the new sending unit is the actual correct one for the firebird, so now we can get the sender changed out and the tank back in the car and get that one wrapped up.

Stay tuned and thanks for the support.

10/15/2026

Its Wednesday! Yep little behind on posting again.

Monday had a ton of things going on but 2 things happened.
1. Got the call from the machine shop saying 7 of the 8 exhaust valves on the motor were leaking, so the heads will get a valve jobs now. So no motor this week most likely.
2. The next project rolled in the shop for alittle maintenance. Clutch adjustment and fuel sending unit.

Tuesday....well not a mobile mechanic, I keep saying it, but for the 2nd time I took a road trip. This one was to st pete/tampa/Seminole fl. Freind needed help replacing a cam in a new build that failed. So 3.5hr drive all day tearing the motor down going to get parts and tools and it all came to an end when the cam/cam gear didn't work. The cam style that we pulled out didn't match the new one. All the stores were closed at that point so ill have to go back another day to get it back together. Nice 16hr day, lol

Today., we started on the firebird and dropped the tank....and we found the car holy grail! This confirms this car is original! Damn! Then we found out the sender we got wouldn't work. Not even close to working. Called the parts store, they said thats the only one in there system that works.was told to call the manufacturer. Called the manfacture of the part, got the same story according to there "book". After alot of searching and deep diving I think we found the correct one which according to the parts store wont fit, although I think it will. Guess we'll find out when it shows up in a couple days.

Stay tuned for what's next!

Thanks for the support.

10/04/2026

Well the next video just posted. Go and check this out.

Subscribe if you haven't, like and share please.

in this video we trouble shoot a 1980 G20 step vans engine issues. ...

10/02/2026

Well it was another busy day.

We did a 3.5hr round trip road trip in the morning to grab our transmission and converter from the rebuild shop. I really appreciate them going through everything and then honoring the deal we had made.

After that we cleaned up the excavator and fired it up. Needless to say I was very happy when nothing leaked! We moved all controls and everything works as it should. We got all the access panels put back on and backed out of the shop and then got the shop and tools cleaned up for the next project.

Stay tuned for what we get into next.

Thanks for all the support.

10/01/2026

Well we did it today. We got the rotator manifold in the excavator. Had to take it back out and adjust the position of the upper and lower alignment plates to get it to fit since it wouldn't rotate when I had it in the first time, lol. After an adjustment we got it bolted in then we were able to get all the hoses hooked up. We're going to let it set overnight to hopefully drip dry a bit before we clean everything up and fire it up to leak check all the fittings.

We got the call from the transmission shop saying our stuff is ready to pick up so were going in the morning to go get it.

Stay tuned and thanks for the support.

09/30/2026

I know its been a few days since ive posted anything. Been crazy around here.

But here is where we're at.

Monday I got the call that the excavator rotator manifold was ready to go, so we went and picked that up. The plan is to get that back in and hooked up this week.

Today we got the call from the machine shop that we in fact blew a head gasket and the motor has to come completely apart to fix the surface of the block. But we heard that everything else in the motor looked good, so hopefully that will be a good thing.

We also heard from the transmission shop that they were finishing up our transmission and converter and it should be completely rebuilt by tomorrow and ready for pickup, so there's that.

Stay tuned for what's next and let's get these things wrapped up.

Thanks for the support.

09/22/2026

Well we got alot done today.

First most important is we got the motor dropped off at the machine shop. We went over our plans and we are hoping that this is the best outcome and will be "cheap" fix. But if we find something it will be fixed right and be good to go either way.

2nd most important we finally concord the excavator rotator manifold and got all the hoses labeled and removed, once they were removed, we got the unit removed from the machine. Tomorrow we drop that off at the hydraulic shop to get rebuilt. Hopefully that will only take a few days and then we can see if we can invent any new swear words putting it back together, lol. Getting it out definitely took some engineering for a couple hoses, but we won the first fight.

Stay tuned to see what happens next. Thanks for all that support the shop, what we are trying to do and the local business that do work for us and get our parts back to us. Thank you!