I’m really lost here, the “Structure” part of the explanation doesn’t seem to make much sense here, it says ように for verbs + verbs and adjectives, yet using ように with 匂いがするね is somehow wrong?
This is a recurring problem for me, could anyone explain how to really use this grammar point? I’ve even Googled it but no one seems to really explain about WHEN to use に/な in cases like this.
Hey 
匂い (smell) is a noun.
This post might help you a bit in understanding it:
I was so certain that 匂い is an い-adjektive, omg. 
Thanks @mrnoone, you saved the day, as usual. 
Not a problem, I am glad it helped.
By the way, if you want to express the same idea using ように then:
「何か腐っているように匂うね。」
Though 匂いがする is more common.
匂い is one of those words that (presumably) came from the verb stem, in this case 匂う. Other examples are 戦い, 憩い, 祝い, and so on. Just gotta look out for those since the verb stem of verbs ending in う will look like い-adjectives.
The most notorious example is probably 嫌い (きらい), because most learners probably encounter it at the same time they learn about い-adjectives 
NVM i was wrong
