diff --git a/.github/actions/clean-runner/action.yaml b/.github/actions/clean-runner/action.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..4c8f552f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/actions/clean-runner/action.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+name: 'Clean runner'
+description: 'Remove unneeded tooling'
+runs:
+  using: "composite"
+  steps:
+    - shell: bash
+      run: |
+        # To free up ~15 GB of disk space
+        sudo rm -rf /opt/ghc
+        sudo rm -rf /usr/local/share/boost
+        sudo rm -rf /usr/local/lib/android
+        sudo rm -rf /usr/share/dotnet
diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci-cd.yml b/.github/workflows/ci-cd.yml
index 136a0ecb..79f5e700 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci-cd.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci-cd.yml
@@ -32,21 +32,14 @@ jobs:
         os: [linux, darwin]
         arch: [amd64, arm64]
     steps:
-      - name: Remove unneeded tooling
-        run: |
-          # To free up ~15 GB of disk space
-          sudo rm -rf /opt/ghc
-          sudo rm -rf /usr/local/share/boost
-          sudo rm -rf /usr/local/lib/android
-          sudo rm -rf /usr/share/dotnet
+      - name: Check out source code
+        uses: actions/checkout@v3
+      - uses: ./.github/actions/clean-runner
       - name: Install go
         uses: actions/setup-go@v4
         with:
           cache: false
           go-version: 1.20.x
-
-      - name: Check out source code
-        uses: actions/checkout@v3
       - name: Cache go dependencies
         id: cache-go-dependencies
         uses: actions/cache@v3
diff --git a/.github/workflows/nightly.yaml b/.github/workflows/nightly.yaml
index 3727a181..004bbaae 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/nightly.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/nightly.yaml
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ jobs:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v3
+      - uses: ./.github/actions/clean-runner
       - uses: actions/setup-go@v3
         with:
           go-version: 1.20.x
@@ -59,7 +60,9 @@ jobs:
     name: Sync harness
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v3
+      - name: Check out source code
+        uses: actions/checkout@v3
+      - uses: ./.github/actions/clean-runner
       - uses: actions/setup-go@v3
         with:
           go-version: 1.20.x
diff --git a/test/blackbox/helpers_sync.bash b/test/blackbox/helpers_sync.bash
index 79b62be5..1de8e9c3 100644
--- a/test/blackbox/helpers_sync.bash
+++ b/test/blackbox/helpers_sync.bash
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ function zot_serve() {
 
 function zb_run() {
     local zot_address=${1}
-    ${ZB_PATH} -c 10 -n 100 -o stdout ${zot_address} --skip-cleanup
+    ${ZB_PATH} -c 10 -n 30 -o stdout ${zot_address} --skip-cleanup
 }
 
 function wait_str() {
diff --git a/test/blackbox/restore_s3_blobs.bats b/test/blackbox/restore_s3_blobs.bats
index 067455ac..a369e2b1 100644
--- a/test/blackbox/restore_s3_blobs.bats
+++ b/test/blackbox/restore_s3_blobs.bats
@@ -113,7 +113,7 @@ function teardown_file() {
     wait_zot_reachable "http://127.0.0.1:8080/v2/"
     start=`date +%s`
     echo "waiting for restoring blobs task to finish" >&3
-    run wait_for_string "dedupe rebuild: finished" ${ZOT_LOG_FILE} "5m"
+    run wait_for_string "dedupe rebuild: finished" ${ZOT_LOG_FILE} "10m"
     [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
 
     end=`date +%s`
diff --git a/test/blackbox/sync_harness.bats b/test/blackbox/sync_harness.bats
index d53af08d..26f10f41 100644
--- a/test/blackbox/sync_harness.bats
+++ b/test/blackbox/sync_harness.bats
@@ -105,7 +105,7 @@ function teardown_file() {
     start=`date +%s`
     echo "waiting for sync to finish" >&3
 
-    run wait_for_string "sync: finished syncing all repos" ${ZOT_LOG_FILE} "3m"
+    run wait_for_string "sync: finished syncing all repos" ${ZOT_LOG_FILE} "5m"
     [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
 
     end=`date +%s`