diff --git a/build_ebs_on_ec2.sh b/oem/ami/build_ebs_on_ec2.sh
similarity index 93%
rename from build_ebs_on_ec2.sh
rename to oem/ami/build_ebs_on_ec2.sh
index 182b887a16..c060836355 100755
--- a/build_ebs_on_ec2.sh
+++ b/oem/ami/build_ebs_on_ec2.sh
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
 #
 # This expects to run on an EC2 instance.
 #
+# mad props to Eric Hammond for the initial script
+#  https://github.com/alestic/alestic-hardy-ebs/blob/master/bin/alestic-hardy-ebs-build-ami
 
 # AKI ids from:
 #  http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/UserProvidedkernels.html
@@ -84,7 +86,7 @@ fi
 
 # if it is on the local fs, just use it, otherwise try to download it
 if [ -e "$binurl" ]; then
-	bzcat $binurl | dd of=$dev bs=128M
+	bunzip2 -c $binurl | dd of=$dev bs=128M
 else
 	curl -s $binurl | bunzip2 | dd of=$dev bs=128M
 fi
@@ -103,8 +105,7 @@ amiid=$(ec2-register                                  \
   --architecture "$arch"                              \
   --kernel "$akiid"                                   \
   --block-device-mapping /dev/sda=$snapshotid::true   \
-  --block-device-mapping $ephemeraldev=ephemeral0     \
-  --snapshot "$snapshotid" |
+  --block-device-mapping $ephemeraldev=ephemeral0     |
   cut -f2)
 
 ec2-delete-volume "$volumeid"
diff --git a/oem/ami/zip_and_ship_ami.sh b/oem/ami/zip_and_ship_ami.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..9ff236a0b9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/oem/ami/zip_and_ship_ami.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+#!/bin/bash -xe
+#
+# this needs more refactoring, but is used to build the latest image
+
+IMG="../build/images/amd64-generic/latest/coreos_ami_image.bin"
+ssh -i ~/.ssh/coreos-images.pem ubuntu@23.22.1.1 "mkdir -p /mnt/tmp"
+
+bzip2 $IMG
+scp -i ~/.ssh/coreos-images.pem build_ebs_on_ec2.sh $IMG.bz2 ubuntu@23.22.1.1:/mnt/tmp
+ssh -i ~/.ssh/coreos-images.pem ubuntu@23.22.1.1 "sudo /mnt/tmp/build_ebs_on_ec2.sh /mnt/tmp/coreos_ami_image.bin.bz2"