BST Garage

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!

09/21/2026

Well this week has tested me pretty good. The excavator will be the death of me yet. We finally figured out the the correct fittings we needed, then found out we didn't have the right wrenches. All that came in today so tomorrow will be very busy. We haven't got alot done around the shop vehicle wise, but we have been very busy.

We did figure out our skid steer issue with the help of someone that has equipment themselves. It turned out to be a clogged water separator screen. Once we cleaned it, its been working/running great.

We also got the racecar motor torn down to the point we can get it to the overhaul shop which will happen tomorrow. Hopefully its an easy cheap fix, lol!

The plan is to get the excavator torn apart tomorrow so we can get the manifold to the repair shop Tuesday.

Thanks for tuning in. Let's see what we can get done this week.

09/16/2026

Well yesterday we got the motor and transmission out of the racecar. We were going to take the trans to the shop today, but the day didn't go the way we were hoping so we decided to take it now. So the transmission is at the overhaul shop as of yesterday. There going to go through it, tell me what I have and then we'll set it up for the car. Step 1 done. Motor we have a few more things to take off it, then next Monday we drop it off at the overhaul shop to make sure its 100% and ready for next year. Can't wait to get everything back together and get this thing tested and dial in
It will be a whole new/different car for next season. Lots of changes, all good.

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