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I am trying to figure out if there is a doubler on the aft section of the upper cowling center piece. Looking at old photos I determined that the front has a spot welded doubler. Probably to fill the space between the nosebowl to prevent it from pulling the skin down and creating a ridge. If someone could look at their aircraft, preferably a 50 Pacer as that part was unique to that year I would appreciate it.
My 1950 Pacer center top cowl section may or may not have been original. It didn’t have a doubler on either end...the aluminum was 0.050” thick...no cracks that I recall. The Pacer convert I’m flying is a 57...it has doublers at both ends...to contain obvious cracks.
Mine was a 53 (data plate anyway). It was originally put together in '85 "from lots of parts" so no guarantees, but the forward part of the center sections had the spot welded doubler. The back had a doubler riveted on the aft section, it was cracked and I replaced it using same holes. The hole pattern did not look like something that might have been factory. I did some research at the time I fixed mine and seems like I found someone say the aft did not have a doubler from the factory. One would think if the original was going to have a doubler, piper would have spot welded the aft one like they did the front one. Just prior to my restoration I replaced the old with all newly fabricated and riveted doublers at both ends.
I just replaced mine. It was the original and had a spot welded doubler in the front only. Mine was cracked in the back on both sides. When I fabricated the new one, I added a doubler at the back to prevent it from happening again.
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Upper cowl center
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