53 manhattan coil wiring question

[mow4alivn]

I'm a newbie to this forum and to kaisers themselves. I bought a 53 manhattan had been sitting in a barn for 20+ years. It still has the 6 volt positive ground system. Going to try and start it this weekend but I have a question before I do. I'm use to chevys one wire to positive side of coil and one wire to negative that goes to distibutor. Now with my Kaiser I have two wires coming from wiring harness going to positive side and one wire from wiring harness to the negative side along with the wire that goes to the distibutor.
Can anyone tell me what the extra wires are? Any help would be greatly appreciated
 

[ben-tex]

I am guessing your car has overdrive which would account for 2 extra wires. If it does there should be 2 wires from the neg post--one to the ignition switch and the other to the ignition connection on the OD relay (mounted on firewall) AND 2 wires from the pos post--one to the distributor and one to the kickdown switch.

[mow4alivn]

Ok, Yes it does have overdrive so that would explain the extra wires. Now I juist need to do some research on the overdrive and how it works.

Thanks so much.

[Fid]

When the overdrive control cable is pushed in, the car can operate in overdrive.  When you reach 29 MPH, let your foot off the throttle momentarily and the car will go into overdrive (like shifting to another gear).  If you need a boost of power, you can mash the pedal to the floor and kick it down out of overdrive... then let your foot off the pedal again to go back into OD.
The thing to remember, and this is important, is when that overdrive cable is in, the car will free-wheel - the wheels turn independant of the engine so you need to put the car in reverse when you park it. If not, it can roll away.

[mow4alivn]

Thanks Fid, for the info on the overdrive you just saved me alot of time looking for that info. Never had a car with manual overdrive before so I'm learning as I go.

[jmxkf1]

And of course remember the free wheeling "feature" of the OD cars when you're doing mountain driving.   After your brakes heat up and fade away going down the hill you won't have the trans to slow you down if you're in OD.  have fun!

[Fid]

And just to add a little more FYI -  a lot of cars: GM, Ford, Chrysler and most independants, used the same overdrive system from the 1930s up into the 1970s if I'm not mistaken so information is pretty easy to find but I find that most modern mechanics are afraid of it for some reason. It's actually not that difficult. If I can rebuild one, mechanically and electrically, most mechanics should be able to.