diff --git a/carstream.go b/carstream.go
index ef5b848..44c11f5 100644
--- a/carstream.go
+++ b/carstream.go
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@ package frisbii
 import (
 	"bytes"
 	"context"
-	"fmt"
 	"io"
 
 	// codecs we care about
@@ -17,7 +16,7 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/ipfs/go-cid"
 	"github.com/ipld/go-car/v2"
-	carstorage "github.com/ipld/go-car/v2/storage"
+	"github.com/ipld/go-car/v2/storage/deferred"
 	"github.com/ipld/go-ipld-prime/datamodel"
 	"github.com/ipld/go-ipld-prime/linking"
 	cidlink "github.com/ipld/go-ipld-prime/linking/cid"
@@ -32,11 +31,7 @@ func StreamCar(
 	out io.Writer,
 	request trustlessutils.Request,
 ) error {
-	carWriter, err := carstorage.NewWritable(out, []cid.Cid{request.Root}, car.WriteAsCarV1(true), car.AllowDuplicatePuts(request.Duplicates))
-	if err != nil {
-		return fmt.Errorf("failed to create car writer: %w", err)
-	}
-
+	carWriter := deferred.NewDeferredCarWriterForStream(out, []cid.Cid{request.Root}, car.WriteAsCarV1(true), car.AllowDuplicatePuts(request.Duplicates))
 	requestLsys.StorageReadOpener = carPipe(requestLsys.StorageReadOpener, carWriter)
 
 	cfg := traversal.Config{Root: request.Root, Selector: request.Selector()}
@@ -52,7 +47,7 @@ func StreamCar(
 	return nil
 }
 
-func carPipe(orig linking.BlockReadOpener, car carstorage.WritableCar) linking.BlockReadOpener {
+func carPipe(orig linking.BlockReadOpener, car *deferred.DeferredCarWriter) linking.BlockReadOpener {
 	return func(lc linking.LinkContext, lnk datamodel.Link) (io.Reader, error) {
 		r, err := orig(lc, lnk)
 		if err != nil {
diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index 7a486cf..940385a 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ require (
 	github.com/ipfs/go-ipld-format v0.6.0
 	github.com/ipfs/go-log/v2 v2.5.1
 	github.com/ipfs/go-unixfsnode v1.8.0
-	github.com/ipld/go-car/v2 v2.12.0
+	github.com/ipld/go-car/v2 v2.12.1-0.20230902103537-b12674b3b055
 	github.com/ipld/go-ipld-prime v0.21.0
 	github.com/ipld/go-trustless-utils v0.0.0
 	github.com/ipld/ipld/specs v0.0.0-20230826120441-91918996e8eb
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index 588715d..16d8225 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -271,8 +271,8 @@ github.com/ipfs/go-unixfs v0.4.4 h1:D/dLBOJgny5ZLIur2vIXVQVW0EyDHdOMBDEhgHrt6rY=
 github.com/ipfs/go-unixfsnode v1.8.0 h1:yCkakzuE365glu+YkgzZt6p38CSVEBPgngL9ZkfnyQU=
 github.com/ipfs/go-unixfsnode v1.8.0/go.mod h1:HxRu9HYHOjK6HUqFBAi++7DVoWAHn0o4v/nZ/VA+0g8=
 github.com/ipfs/go-verifcid v0.0.2 h1:XPnUv0XmdH+ZIhLGKg6U2vaPaRDXb9urMyNVCE7uvTs=
-github.com/ipld/go-car/v2 v2.12.0 h1:4wpZwCEK2Th7lrVhkAio7fnxZb6COrSHxSz9xCR6FOo=
-github.com/ipld/go-car/v2 v2.12.0/go.mod h1:QkdjjFNGit2GIkpQ953KBwowuoukoM75nP/JI1iDJdo=
+github.com/ipld/go-car/v2 v2.12.1-0.20230902103537-b12674b3b055 h1:XU67HCQO3g/l/f3aey6LdqlE93ALRe/sbGj0T5yviXU=
+github.com/ipld/go-car/v2 v2.12.1-0.20230902103537-b12674b3b055/go.mod h1:QkdjjFNGit2GIkpQ953KBwowuoukoM75nP/JI1iDJdo=
 github.com/ipld/go-codec-dagpb v1.6.0 h1:9nYazfyu9B1p3NAgfVdpRco3Fs2nFC72DqVsMj6rOcc=
 github.com/ipld/go-codec-dagpb v1.6.0/go.mod h1:ANzFhfP2uMJxRBr8CE+WQWs5UsNa0pYtmKZ+agnUw9s=
 github.com/ipld/go-ipld-adl-hamt v0.0.0-20220616142416-9004dbd839e0 h1:QAI/Ridj0+foHD6epbxmB4ugxz9B4vmNdYSmQLGa05E=
diff --git a/httpipfs_test.go b/httpipfs_test.go
index 6e9e40e..9ce7b0c 100644
--- a/httpipfs_test.go
+++ b/httpipfs_test.go
@@ -12,13 +12,16 @@ import (
 	"github.com/ipld/frisbii"
 	"github.com/ipld/go-car/v2"
 	cidlink "github.com/ipld/go-ipld-prime/linking/cid"
+	"github.com/ipld/go-ipld-prime/storage/memstore"
 	trustlesshttp "github.com/ipld/go-trustless-utils/http"
 	trustlesspathing "github.com/ipld/ipld/specs/pkg-go/trustless-pathing"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
 )
 
 func TestHttpIpfsHandler(t *testing.T) {
-	handler := frisbii.NewHttpIpfs(context.Background(), cidlink.DefaultLinkSystem())
+	lsys := cidlink.DefaultLinkSystem()
+	lsys.SetReadStorage(&CorrectedMemStore{Store: &memstore.Store{}})
+	handler := frisbii.NewHttpIpfs(context.Background(), lsys)
 	testServer := httptest.NewServer(handler)
 	defer testServer.Close()
 
@@ -63,6 +66,17 @@ func TestHttpIpfsHandler(t *testing.T) {
 			expectedStatusCode: http.StatusBadRequest,
 			expectedBody:       "invalid Accept header; unsupported: \"applicaiton/json\"",
 		},
+		{
+			// special case where we get to start the request because everything
+			// is valid, but the block isn't in our blockstore; passing this
+			// depends on deferring writing the CAR output until after we've
+			// at least loaded the first block.
+			name:               "block not found",
+			path:               "/ipfs/bafybeigdyrzt5sfp7udm7hu76uh7y26nf3efuylqabf3oclgtqy55fbzdi",
+			accept:             trustlesshttp.RequestAcceptHeader(true),
+			expectedStatusCode: http.StatusInternalServerError,
+			expectedBody:       "failed to load root node: failed to load root CID: ipld: could not find bafybeigdyrzt5sfp7udm7hu76uh7y26nf3efuylqabf3oclgtqy55fbzdi", // the 404 is from memstore, we won't see that with a proper linksys
+		},
 	} {
 		t.Run(testCase.name, func(t *testing.T) {
 			req := require.New(t)
diff --git a/multireadablestorage_test.go b/multireadablestorage_test.go
index 6f68d6a..7643bfc 100644
--- a/multireadablestorage_test.go
+++ b/multireadablestorage_test.go
@@ -86,16 +86,18 @@ type CorrectedMemStore struct {
 
 func (cms *CorrectedMemStore) Get(ctx context.Context, key string) ([]byte, error) {
 	data, err := cms.Store.Get(ctx, key)
+	cid, _ := cid.Cast([]byte(key))
 	if err != nil && err.Error() == "404" {
-		err = format.ErrNotFound{}
+		err = format.ErrNotFound{Cid: cid}
 	}
 	return data, err
 }
 
 func (cms *CorrectedMemStore) GetStream(ctx context.Context, key string) (io.ReadCloser, error) {
 	rc, err := cms.Store.GetStream(ctx, key)
+	cid, _ := cid.Cast([]byte(key))
 	if err != nil && err.Error() == "404" {
-		err = format.ErrNotFound{}
+		err = format.ErrNotFound{Cid: cid}
 	}
 	return rc, err
 }