I was off flying today and started smelling smoke and turned back to our airport which was 7 miles away. Next I heard a ticking which later turned into a very loud exhaust roar. We were cleared for a straight in approach and got down safely. Boy did my wife jump as we descended over Lake Washington just before touchdown when the exhaust backfired when the throttle was retarded. Upon examination, the left stack broke completely in two just forward of the left hand exhaust muff. I'm sure glad, at Paul Anton's suggestion, that we had him put fireproofing on all the fuel lines, as I imagine it got pretty hot in there. I guess it had corroded from the inside as I didn't see any signs of a problem on the preflight.
What would you guys recommend as a source of a stainless stack? Also would anyone have a used left hand stack? Thanks, Marty Duke 46 415C N10743 KRNT
