Projects The 56 Chevy Continued Adventure Build

well hot damn, I must be blind! I do find Danchuk's site a little tough to search for things like a lot of sites.
Appreciate the link brother

 

I know of the guy and have heard of his work but haven't been out at all. may have to poke around and check out his stuff this spring. Always good to meet another guy

 

Crazy stuff, just got off the phone with Danchuk and they told me they aren't taking Canadian orders...period. That's a big ol FU to the Canadian guys! Think I've heard it all now. Must be nice to turn your nose in business to an entire country that has a lot of customers.

 

Ya, I've mentioned it to them in person.

That sucks. See if Woody's is of any help??? https://www.woodyshotrodz.com/DAN-727-p/dan-727.htm

 

Also try Car and Truck Shop (1-800-235-2470) and ask for #56-02728. That should be drivers side.
Here's the link as well. http://www.truckandcarshop.com/4157.html

 

Thanks for all the help @Johnny Gee Perhaps you should take over Danchuk's customer service department... ha ha
I just don't get businesses that behave this way. Unless your apple or amazon business is never that good that you can just tell customers to go away. Shaking my head

 

Since Covid the place hasn't been the same. It has gotten worse over time. I get frustrated seeing it in person going in there.

 

We've been in business for almost 30 years with a retail/wholesale business and I take great pride in looking after our customers. Sure we make mistakes but we bust ass to fix them if we do. It's real easy to give good customer service, you just have to actually care about the customer.

 

Got the door all stripped and ready for the knife. Plan is to be at the shop on the car all weekend so will get the door cut and ready for test fitting. Will get the rocker all welded in then the B pillar and start making stuff happen. Work just always seems to get in the way of the fun stuff..

 

Just received info on one of many Tri Five FB pages I follow. Danchuk will no longer sell to the public. They will continue manufacturing for sale thru outside vendors is the basic sum of what was said.

That said.

What I didn't mention yesterday was that the partners that started Danchuk are up there in age. Back in June 2021 one of them was very I'll and had not made any legal arrangements per where the company would go after his death. For all I know that day has come???

 

Yes, Here's your out, as Johnny Gee mentioned, from Woody's site
Danchuk announced today that they are getting out of the retail parts business: "Danchuk will no longer sell directly to the public, but will focus solely on our dealers and on supplying them with the same Made in America, high quality parts our customers have been used to." - Art Danchuk

 

I literally just saw that online. What I don't understand is why the person I spoke to didn't say that and instead said no orders to canada. Stupid

 

Are they atleast going to tell us who the dealers are so we can get good part's?

 

They did list a couple in their facebook post. Believe Woody's was listed as their main dealer in the US

 

Have everything fitted in place and ready to weld in. Will make that happen tomorrow and then get the B pillar tacked in. Got the door cut down this evening. Left it an inch long so I'll have some room to trim. I have a laser set up with a tri pod and I'll use that to make the final trim. Funny how I didn't chop my coupe and here I am cutting up my classic! But the goal will be to make it so no one will know the difference once I'm done. Scary cutting the door but exciting at the same time.

 

Long time friend of mine stopped by with his new ride. 70,000 mile one owner Delray with all original drive train 3 on the tree, and interior. Has had one paint job same color that's on the car now. Thing purrs like a kitten. He has a 348 that he would like to rebuild with a tri power and swap out out the six for it. For now he's just gonna drive the thing. Always loved 58's.

 

Do you have 2 door 1/4 panel belt line mouldings and interior window garnish trim? They come in handy when setting rear door skin fore and aft so there will not be any surprises in the end.

From DDDennys thread. Note jog of the paint divider ghost and adjustment made after the fact.

 

I have the garnish trim. As for the beltline moldings that's why I cut the door on the front post the way I did so i can cut in the contour of the 2 door door to match up. As for the rear part I'll have to fab up a little to get it to flow nice. We'll see how it all plays out.

 

Tedious weekend but considering got some good work done. The boy came out today for some more work so I had him taking off trim and watching as I was welding. Got the rocker 90% welded in and got the dog leg piece in as well. Cut out where the top of the B pillar will relocate to. Still have to make the filler piece for where it used to be. Lots of fiddly work but taking my time to make sure it's right and solid. Fought some thing original sheet metal as I was burning in the dog leg piece. So much nicer to work with new thick sheet metal vs having to weld in where the old rusty thin stuff was.

 

This makes the tedious work some how more fun! Forged H beam rods, pistons and crank (not shown) and my intake. ARP stud and block bolt kit, all the bearings, gaskets etc to build the short block. Will have one of the local machine shops do all the machine work and block prep then my buddy and I will assemble the motor at his shop. We're doing a 489 stroker with .30 over pistons. Should get the ol girl up and outta the hole pretty well! This is the stuff that gets my juices flowin!!

 

Got the B pillar all welded in and door opens and closes. I removed the outer door edge off of the B pillar so I could move it back slightly and reattached leaving the door gap larger as I have to bring the door back slightly. Still have to massage it a little to follow the top profile of the door better but it's close. Tomorrow I'll weld in the door skin but definitely feeling accomplished for the day. At least I know the passenger side will go quicker as I have done all my learning on this side. Lots to do!

 

Got in more parts today. Trying to gather as much as possible so I have it all on hand for when the time comes in case there are bigger supply chain issues down the road. Priced out a new 850 Quick Fuel/Holley carb. $1000 Canadian!! Crazy train. Was able to pick up this 850 from my buddy for less than half that price. I'll go through it to make sure everything is good and probably throw new gaskets in it just to be safe. Planning to be in the shop all weekend on the car as I want to finish the drivers side and get onto the passenger side. Trying to have as much work done as possible before it's cruisin weather.

 

Great day in the shop today, especially cuz I was playin hooky from work. One of the perks of being the owner I guess. Finished up all the little stuff I needed to do so I could get the rear door finally cut down and fitted into place. Got the upper molding of the door all trimmed and fitted as well so besides welding it all in, she's 50% a 2 door! Was a satisfying day to be getting this step worked through. Two more days this weekend so non stop welding coming up to get it all burned in. Dropped the engine block off at one of the local machine shops today as well. Mag the block, line hone, deck, bore & hone and then I'll get them to balance everything up. All in all, a great day building hot rods.

 

Yes! you are now the proud owner of a '56 Chevy 3 door!

 

Great job Fitness...

This is such a great mod to undertake...and that isn't to say the 4drs can't pull their weight thinking of HerMink's 55...but truly a 2 dr for a fraction of the cost...lots of work but again well worth it...

I wonder what else is hiding amongst the weeds at the Fitness land of Hotrod?

 

Thanks Steve. Been a couple times where I have been thinking what did I get myself into but then I just remind myself what Gene Winfield says. It's just a car and it's just steel! Cut it up and make what you want. I'm just doing my best to cut it up really nicely! ha ha Spring is showing signs of springing around here so it will be time to cruise in the coupe soon. Gotta get as much work done as possible

 

Well both my Miller welder and me need a nap after a day of welding but the door is all welded in with the exception of the bottom of the door as I have to tighten up the bottom by the rocker panel as it is a little proud. Clean up the rest of the welds, finish up some left over welding on the inner rocker then I can move onto the other side. Did I mention how much I love welding?! On another note thought I'd mention to anyone interested, I bought one of the Eastwood tools contour SC unit a few months ago and I've used it to strip the paint off the doors for the welding. Thing works awesome and does such a nice job stripping the paint but is very gentle on the metal.

 

Day three of the weekend and I got the rest of the door welded in and cleaned up the welds. The back closure of the door had a bit of a tip into the quarter panel so I left the weld a little proud for now. I'll pick my friend's brain at the body shop and see what they think. Made the bottom piece to match the bottom curve of the door. Then moved onto finish welding in the floor pan and toe board patch. Aaaaaand the welder ran outta argon! You know you've been doing a crap ton of welding when! All in all pretty happy with what I've accomplished so far. When I was younger driving this car I always dreamed of it being a two door and now I'm halfway there!

 

Threw the 150 side trim on just for fun. Always loved the look of the 150 vs the Bel Air. Clean and simple. The car is originally a 210 but we had the Bel Air window trim on back in the day. Not sure if I am going to use the little paint trim divider on the fender as I am not going two tone. We shall see! My boy likes the 150 best.

 

Are you deleting belt line molding as well plus use correct 150 lower windshield corners?