L-134 6 volt to 12 volt

Sadler5 · Post by **Sadler5** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 7:26 am

I have purchased a 1956 CJ5 with what I believe has a military L-134 engine in it. It is converted to 12 volt. It runs good with good oil pressure but appears to burn up the condenser (capacitor) on the breaker point system. I thought maybe it had a 6 volt coil or a coil that needed an external resistor. Does anyone have any suggestions? I am on my third capacitor in less than 200 miles. I changed the coil to a new 12 volt one on the last capacitor change.
Thanks for your input.
Bob

Post by **wesk** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 9:12 am

Does the new coil have the statement "Use with external resistor" on it?

Sadler5 · Post by **Sadler5** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 12:10 pm

I saw no markings on the new coil I installed. It has been running about 3 hours with no problem. The coil I took out had a part number and was made by Autolite but I don't know if it was a 12 volt or a 6 volt.
Thanks,
Bob

Post by **wesk** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 6:55 pm

The I'll bet your old coil should have had an external resistor.For all practical purposes the 6 and 12 volt vehicles built all these years all use a 6 volt coil. The 12 volt unit you now have actually contains a 6 volt coil and a series resistance to reduce the 12 volts from your electrical system to the 7-9 volt area. The 12 volt coils that say "Use an external resistor" are actually a 6 volt coil and will work just fine in a 6 volt car without a resistor. A 6 volt coil is exactly what it says. 6 volt but it is designed to function nicely at the 6 volt car's operating voltage of 7.5.

I find it odd a CJ5 owner would pull out his 72 HP F134 and install a 60 HP L134. He must have been desperate.

Sadler5 · Post by **Sadler5** » Wed Aug 29, 2007 6:05 am

Thanks Wes for the detail about the resistor being internal. I knew from the instruction with the new coil that the resistor was important. Also being an old Dodge man I remember seeing those mounted on the firewall. I could not find any markings on either coil so for now I will assume it is fixed. I am going to carry an extra capacitor for a while though.

I can't take the blame for changing the F-134 to the L-134 and do not know the owner as it was back a couple of people from me. I do dearly love the L-134. You pointed me to a by-pass oil filter on Ebay which I installed this summer. The previous owner had taken it out and ported it directly into the timing cover. I believe installing the by-pass filter put my oil pressure back to specs. That coupled with the valve job I gave it have makes it purr like a kitten. To your point I may be even more impressed with the F-134 but have not had the opportunity or need to pursue one.

The markings on the L-134 are below. Would you mind pointing me in the direction of deciphering them?

L-134
11-6
63632 - W4
N1-CP * 2

Again, thanks for your help.

Bob

Post by **wesk** » Wed Aug 29, 2007 11:48 am

Hello Bob,

The extra 12 HP is very noticable. I have owned many of both.

L-134 11-6 63_632 - W4 N1-CP * 2

This is the casting number. I bet you just missed the 8 that makes the correct number 638632. That is the WWII MB casting. The serial number pad is behind the oil filter bracket top right front SIDE of engine. If you can find a MBXXXXXX serial there your engine is very valuable to the WWII Jeep restorers. What is the casting number on the cylinder head under the oil filter bracket? What is the part/model number and serial number of your distributor?

This is the date the casting recieved final machining work just before assembly.

Sadler5 · Post by **Sadler5** » Wed Aug 29, 2007 4:14 pm

Wes,
You were correct. I copied the casting number but had a typo in the email. The correct number is 638632. The number on the cylinder head is 639660C. The number on the distributor is lAD 4008. The distributor then has a number on the same tag as 11Y W. The W is not really a W. It looks like a 3 on its side. The number on the block is 4J - 123931.

Let me know what you think.
Thanks,
Bob