The Catahoula 109

[1962siia88]

Hey folks:

Thought some of you might be interested in my friend's rig. Timm Cooper built this for him and it is awesome. I have personally driven it and its fantastic. He also has a d90 which I haven't seen him drive since the 109 came back from Timm's.

Its got a 5.3l chevy with a 4l60e transmission, and Timm's new transfer case (which I couldnt get a good shot of, but can if folks are interested). It has a coil sprung 4 link front end and leaf sprung rear. Column shifter, power steering, blah blah blah. Definitely a sleeper that you might not even notice until it starts burning rubber or blows by you on the freeway!

I hope to do something similar with my 109 project except its on a 110 chassis.

Daniel

[phoenix37]

Sweet. first time Ive seen one of his rigs with coils. Is he starting to move away from leaf springs?

[1962siia88]

Sweet. first time Ive seen one of his rigs with coils. Is he starting to move away from leaf springs?

Not really, he currently is building a soa 88"(not mine), but he has done two of these coil front ends. I think he is going to stop building rigs for people and build his own to sell as complete trucks done to his specs. I'm sure we'll see more with this front end though because it works great and looks like it belongs there.

Daniel

[newfD90]

An espresso tamper for the gear shift knob is awesome!

[D90user]

I dig that weathered body and clean v8.

[UnfrozenCaveman]

An espresso tamper for the gear shift knob is awesome!

I'm glad some one could explain that to me.

We still only get plain old brown coffee out here on the plains ;)

Great truck!

[newfD90]

I'm glad some one could explain that to me.

We still only get plain old brown coffee out here on the plains ;)

Great truck!

Yah, certified coffee geek here.

Agreed, very nice truck!

[hillstrubl]

Yah, certified coffee geek here.

Agreed, very nice truck!

me too, I'm ok with being called a coffee snob too. haha

[newfD90]

me too, I'm ok with being called a coffee snob too. haha

Excellent. Once you get the good stuff, you can't go back. Just like Rovers. :)

[1962siia88]

The guy's name is Timber who owns the truck and Catahoula Coffee. His coffee is excellent. I drink it everyday and serve it in my restaurants too. Fun having the coffee delivered in a series truck.

Daniel

[Santiago Montenegr]

Very nice

[slorocco]

Another fine Cooper build!

[1962siia88]

I stopped by Catahoula this morning after dropping my kid at school. Timber had just installed his stereo system. He put in sound proofing insulation and iron goat door panels and a nice stereo with ipod and bluetooth so he can stream pandora from his phone! Sounds great and the center console looks great and keeps everything safe! More stuff to copy for my 109 project!

Daniel

[o2batsea]

He's got Kings, Brah!

[Hoosier]

I'm interested in which transfer case he is using and which adapter if it is an LT230.

Also what steering box is on the vehicle?

[1962siia88]

I'll try to get a pic of the transfer case or get Timber (Catahoula 109 owner) to join this forum and post some of his. It is a new custom tcase designed by Timm Cooper. Its housing is two pieces machined from a large hunk of aluminum. The main gears are np205. The front output housing is series rover and the rear out put and drum brake is series rover. The case can be provisioned with a rear pto. It really is a beautiful looking piece of equipment and is Timm Cooper design at its finest. The 4l60e transmission needs to have the rear output replaced with a custom shaft that comes with the transmission. I believe Timm made 5 or 6 of these in the first batch. Timbers is no.1 and the only one on the road at this point. It runs great, is bullet proof, doesn't leak, and the series twin sticks and handbrake are right where they should be. No.2 is mine and will be going in my 109 project which is waiting for the 88 to be done. No. 3 is going in an 88 that Timm is currently building which is going to be off the hook when its done. Not sure about the rest of the tcases but I can easily find out or put anyone seriously interested in touch with Timm. The steering box is p38 rover.

Daniel

[leafsprung]

what is the advantage of this T-case? Are you stuck with the Np205 2:1 low?

[oilburner]

what is the advantage of this T-case? Are you stuck with the Np205 2:1 low?

I would bet the output to the front axle is further off centerline to allow the front shaft to get around the tranny pan on GM autos. The series T case is not wide enough to snake the shaft around the pan on a 4L80.

[leafsprung]

the stock 205 should clear . . . I think it came standard in some applications?

[1962siia88]

The np205 and 4l60e dont mate up directly without some adapters. This is why you have to change out the rear output shaft on the trans to use Timm's tcase. The case will work with the 2:1 gears or the lo max 3:1 gears.

Other advantages are that in the 109 he was able to use stock length drive shafts and on the 88 that is getting this same setup is actually going to end up with a longer than stock driveshaft in the rear by a few inches. It's going to work great in short wheelbase vehicles.

I believe his intention is to be able to sell this tcase outside of the rover community as well.

Daniel

[leafsprung]

Case sounds very cool. I do think the 205 came behind the 4L80e in certain factory applications (maybe early 90s GM trucks). I suspect its longer overall though. Does it still use the stock output flanges with the 10 spline outputs? The 2:1 would be a bummer but the auto would make it easier to live with. 3:1 would be killer but I thought JB conversions discontinued them due to lack of demand? Even then I think they were 1300ish. It was a great gearset though. HUGE.
This case with the low-max gears would be excellent for a variety of apps, though I would be really surprised if anyone outside of very few rover folks wanted something that used old rover t-case parts and probably cost more than a atlas/stak/orion etc to build up. Whats the cost like on the case? pics of yours?

[Ren Ching]

Exhaust sure hangs down low. I guess it is really meant for road use only, or maybe trips into the hills on very mild trails.