diff --git a/.github/workflows/nmodl-wheel.yml b/.github/workflows/nmodl-wheel.yml
index f848d7f893..08d8016526 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/nmodl-wheel.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/nmodl-wheel.yml
@@ -42,9 +42,11 @@ jobs:
             PATH="/opt/homebrew/opt/flex/bin:/opt/homebrew/opt/bison/bin:/usr/local/opt/flex/bin:/usr/local/opt/bison/bin:$PATH"
             MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET='10.15'
           CIBW_CONFIG_SETTINGS_MACOS: "build-dir=_build"
+          CIBW_ENVIRONMENT_LINUX: >
+            PATH=/nmodlwheel/flex/bin:/nmodlwheel/bison/bin:$PATH
           # use custom image for now
           CIBW_MANYLINUX_AARCH64_IMAGE: docker.io/jcgoran/nmodl:wheel-aarch64
-          CIBW_BEFORE_BUILD_LINUX: yum install -y bison flex
+          CIBW_BEFORE_BUILD_LINUX: bash packaging/install_dependencies.sh
 
       - uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
         with:
diff --git a/packaging/install_dependencies.sh b/packaging/install_dependencies.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..3c98d18b4c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packaging/install_dependencies.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+# TODO put all of this inside of a Docker image to save time
+
+set -xe
+
+yum -y install \
+    git \
+    wget \
+    make \
+    vim \
+    curl \
+    unzip \
+    autoconf \
+    automake \
+    make \
+    openssh-server \
+    libtool \
+    && yum -y clean all \
+    && rm -rf /var/cache
+
+curl -L -o flex-2.6.4.tar.gz https://github.com/westes/flex/files/981163/flex-2.6.4.tar.gz \
+    && tar -xvzf flex-2.6.4.tar.gz \
+    && cd flex-2.6.4 \
+    && ./configure --prefix=/nmodlwheel/flex \
+    && make -j 3 install \
+    && cd .. \
+    && rm -rf flex-2.6.4.tar.gz flex-2.6.4
+curl -L -o bison-3.7.3.tar.gz https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/bison/bison-3.7.3.tar.gz \
+    && tar -xvzf bison-3.7.3.tar.gz \
+    && cd bison-3.7.3 \
+    && ./configure --prefix=/nmodlwheel/bison \
+    && make -j 3 install \
+    && cd .. \
+    && rm -rf bison-3.7.3.tar.gz bison-3.7.3
+
+set +xe