Wire wheel center cap

[stroker70]

I bought a set of original lip laced wire wheels made by MOTOR WHEEL CORP for my Dragon. Now I want to find correct Kaiser center caps for them. What am I looking for? Are they unique to the wire wheels, or are the sourced from a Henry J or something like that. Kaiser part number?

[pnw_oldmags]

Looks like part number 100327 would be the entire wire wheel covers.

http://circlekf.com/kfcars/accessory/kfpabulletin25B.pdf
Hope this helps but you have wire wheels not wire wheel covers.

[stroker70]

Most pictures of wire wheels I have seen, show a cap that looks like a baby moon with a K in the center. Nothing like that wire wheel cover.

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

The wire wheel cover is just that...a wheel disc with a pattern and the center spinner.  It is NOT a wire wheel in the classic sense. 

Check the later 1953 Kaiser Parts Supplement under WHEELS to see about a part number for the cap.

[Fid]

OK, to answer  the question, "are the hub caps on the wire wheels the same as the Henry J?"
They look just like them but they are slightly different.
According to a conversation I had with Lance Johnson last fall, the Henry J caps are not the same ones used on the Dragon wire wheels despite looking just like them. He informed me that the Henry J caps can be modified to work on the KF wire wheels but it's not an easy/simple modification. You may want to contact Lance for more information. His phone number and contact info are in the latest membership list quarterly.

[joefrazer]

To make HJ covers fit the KF wire wheels, you'll need to find a Mopar cap that was used on concurrent cars. The link below portrays what they look like. You will need to modify the HJ caps to use the same lip and clip design as the Mopar cap. No easy task, as it's been mentioned!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Chrysler-Imperial-Plymouth-Wire-Wheels-Kelsey-Hayes-/120504232596?hash=item1c0e9caa94&item=120504232596&pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&vxp=mtr

[Gordie]

Those caps and wheels were used on Chrysler products and not for K-F cars.  I have a set of K-F caps and they are pressed steel with a plain center and are chrome plated.  Look at factory photos of the '55 Kaiser wire wheels and you will see the correct wheels and caps.  The correct wire wheel spokes go all the way to the front outer edge of the rim not just on the inner rim. 

[joefrazer]

Gordie's right...the correct wheel is lip laced and has a guide pin hole included. The caps that Mopar used have the wrong design but the right method of attachment. I'm holding one here and while it looks easy to duplicate, many have tried...and none that I know of have succeeded!

[Gordie]

If I remember correctly K-F did use Plymouth-Dodge wire wheels with the plain centers.  The wheels illustrated by the wheel seller fit the Chrysler's but are not authentic.  Actual Chrysler wire wheels have too large a center bolt pattern to fit either K-F or Dodge and Plymouth but Chrysler offered the smaller bolt pattern wheels as well as the ones that fit the larger Chrysler's.  Dodge and Plymouth wheels used the guide pins as did K-F.

[Randy K]

Motor Wheel made wire wheels for heavy cars (like a Chrysler New Yorker, Imperial) and lighter cars with different spoke designs (like Dodge).  Those wheels on eBay are for a heavy car.  The light wires have spokes that are longer and closer to the edge of the rim.

A reasonable substitute for the plain center cap are Chevrolet Vega caps but they don't fit really well.  Doe anyone know of a source for those pressed caps that fit the Motor Wheel wheels?