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Look That Exhaust System Over
Went flying with my fellow mechanic buddy Brian yesterday to see if we could straighten out his landings. Kinda cold yesterday morning and the carburetor temp gauge installed in his 150 hp Tri-Pacer was in the yellow but every time we pulled the carb. heat we got an exhaust type smell. Took it to the hanger and noticed the tailpipe was kinda loose. Closer inspection found the culprit to be a cracked muffler at the tail pipe exit.
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Pretty common problem actually. The last few I have sent to Dawley have come back with a doubler welded inside the muffler can and two reinforcements on the outside of the tail pipe exit flange like this.
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Here is another muffler that was recently replaced with not many flight hours but 10 years calendar years. Corroded from the inside. The area pictured is very soft and distorted.
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Another thing we have found is the flame tube distorted and/or broken. This is a picture of a good one.
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When these flame tubes burn out and break off in pieces they can clog up your tail pipe and choke your engine resulting in a total power lose. Welding the muffler bale in can keep the debris from blocking off the tail pipe and get you home.
100_3753 (Medium).JPG
Last edited by Steve Pierce; 08-09-2010 at 05:22 PM.
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Re: Look That Exhaust System Over
How exciting.
Thanks for posting the pix Steve, worth 1000 words each I think. I had to weld a new bale into my tailpipe this year as the old one had burned away.
I looked up Dawley on the interwebs http://www.dawley.net/, can you give a rough idea what the pictured repairs or a muffler overhaul might cost?
Just looked at A/C Spruce online and they get $399 for a new Nicrocraft muffler.
Glen Geller
1955 PA22-150 "One For Papa!"
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Re: Look That Exhaust System Over
And anyone with more than 900 hrs on the muffler would be crazy to do any repair, since you're about to go to 50 hr inspections on it. The new one will pay for itself soon.
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Re: Look That Exhaust System Over
Talked to Kirk at Dawley 800-338-5420 this morning. Worst case scenario:
Muffler $298
Tail pipe $84
Front stack $342
Rear stack $342
Rear stack with rear seat heat $454
He said it would take a week to rebuild our muffler.
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Re: Look That Exhaust System Over
Hey Steve,
You might talk to Rex. We purchased a brand new shroud and never used it. We are not going to put our old system back in but purchase the Sutton.
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Re: Look That Exhaust System Over
Don't neglect the pipes either. Had a problem one time with the TRI when I pulled the carb heat on got excessive RPM drop. The pipe was cracked under the carb heat cover and feeding hot exhaust into the carb. Not good.
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Re: Look That Exhaust System Over
Thanks for the info everyone. One For Papa's exhaust is still serviceable but won't last forever...
Too bad that Sutton won't fit on a Tri-Pacer. Looks real nice and the price is reasonable (for airplane parts!)
And the STC even includes the oil cooler relocation to rear baffle. Suh-wheat!
Glen Geller
1955 PA22-150 "One For Papa!"
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Exhaust cracking
I was at a flyin here in Australia a few weeks back, and one of the shortwingers told me that he had his exhaust break apart inside the welded tubular piece on the #3 exhaust stack that the carb heat shroud wraps around. The exhaust gas was restrained inside the shroud until it melted through and directed the exhaust gas straight onto the firewall. That caused smoke in the cockpit, and charring of the outside of the boot cowl. It happened just after takeoff and he was able to throw it onto the ground quickly.
One of the other owners said that he had found a significant crack starting at the same place on his, too.
The cracking/break was across the tube and welds.
I've always thought that the design of the PA22 exhaust left a lot to be desired, with all the weight of the muffler 'cantilevered' off the #3 and #4 stacks, but this is the first I've heard of it actually being a problem.
Anyone else had any experience of this occurring?
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The folks at Atlee-Dodge told me back in 01 that they had see a lot of Short Wing exhaust cracks at the #3 exhaust/heat muff interface. They commented on it the time because they saw I had that heat muff weldment but was not using it. They suggested they would remove it which I did with a cut-0ff wheel and die grinder.
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If possible could someone post a picture of the referrenced area?
Thank You
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