Why Konig expansion chambers are paired front and back and not top and bottom

[Mark75H]

OK, I'll admit it, sometimes I'm slow ... real slow

I pasted some pics of the 8 cylinder Konny being raced at Depue today on Screamandfly and there were some questions from guys who had never seen a Konig opposed 4, much less a monstrosity like the stacked up 8. They asked about the rotary valves and pipes. The rotary valves were easy to explain, but to answer why the pipes were paired the way they were actually escaped me. I knew the cylinders fired as pairs, top two together as one pair and bottom two together as the other pair 180∘later than the top pair. It never occurred to me until today that the pipe pairing, front and back rather than the cylinders that fire at the same time, is a continuation of the Christner 180∘firing "converging" system as used on so many Mercs.

[Mark75H]

I guess I don't understand..... I thought that it was one top cylinder and one bottom cylinder firing at the same time. The cranks must have 4 throws?

Man, that would be a real shaker!

Look at the rotor and carb arrangement, they have to be paired top and bottom with 4 throws. The rotor opens to the top two at the same time and the bottom two as the other pair. Pairing them as 2 pairs of opposed cylinders gives the effect of a super pumping crankcase
Pavel Koncy's crank train parts diagram from the Konny web site:

[Tim Chance]

Just looking at one of the two pipes, the two cylinders fire into one pipe 180 degrees apart. Just the same as a Mod Mercury with megaphones. Zak made a set of pipes back in the 60's where the top two fired together and the bottom two fired together. Personally I don't think it was any better.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Dieter had racks of pipes he tested. When he made some, he apparently didn't throw them away in case he wanted a quick try on something else. About 1969 or 70 we got a B Konig from Scott Smith that had a single pipe per cylinder and they were fixed. It was hard getting on top, but boy was it fast. The problem was in the turns. There was so much extra weight hanging out there it was easy to dig a sponson or trip a chine when you first set up for a turn. Then you might have to make a couple of corrections as you scrubbed off speed. Of course we had the taller standard Konig tower housings back then which made it worse.

[7500Blizzard]

I'm sure the pipes are that way for a couple of reasons, biggest being if two cyls fired into the pipe together the pipe would have to be quite abit bigger (extra weight) as it is designed around 1 cyl. A pipe per cyl is always faster and makes more power but adds to much extra unwanted weight (as stated earlier) unless you want to spend big $$$ on titanium pipes.

[Mark75H]

Its not always who's fastest, its who's "firstest" that wins the race. The 2 into 1 system aids acceleration.

[7500Blizzard]

I agree it's not always the fastest that wins i was just commenting on why the pipes are the way they are. And as far as acceleration i'll stick with one pipe per cyl if possible especially on a modded motor.

[john miffco]

2 into 1 firing 180 deg apart
saves weight
and mainly the scavaging effect occures
the exhaust flowing out from previous fire
actually sucks the exhaust coming out
( like a sand blasting air nozzle )
on the next fire of opposing cyl
scavaging more burned fuel out of cyl,,,to have more fresh fuel/oxy for next fire

[pro350hydro]

The pipes are designed around a single cylinder. And yes the top two fire at the same time, then 180 later the bottom two fire. So, only one cylinder is using the pipe at a time. Now a days, you see a pipe and carb per cylinder like on the Yamato's, Vrp's and Rossi's.