Back to Back König 1000cc 8 cylinder oddity

[Dan M]

I remember talking to Danny at Constantine when he had it on Marshall's conventional boat. Because it was a 1-off, parts were hard to come by. Danny said that he couln't get on the throttle hard because it would eat the gearcase. TOOOOOOO much power. That year at constantine, he broke the skeg off the lower unit. Couldn't get the boat to go straight let alone turn. Danny was such a competetor that he tried mounting an extra fin on the back left side of the transom. Made one lap that way and decided to park it for the weekend. I'm sure that proping that beast was hard to do also.

[smittythewelder]

Now, that Konig/Konig was a homebuilt, not a factory project, right? Who built it and when?

Konig did build at least one six-cylinder F engine, which was run in the States at least once, in the late '60s/early '70s. Wonder what became of that engine . . . ?

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Marshall Grant built that motor I believe during the winter or 73-74. I first remember it at Lakeland in 74 when Charlie Bailey drove it. Was it fast/fast? You better believe it. I remember Dan Kirts going down the backstraigt testing at the UIM OF World Championships in Fort Worth. I thought there would be no way to beat it, but I did. It was so heavy it didn't corner as well as my boat.

At that race the top three finishers were one-of-a-kind Konigs, two of which were built by Marshall Grant. The 6 cylinder konig you mentioned, Smitty, was one Dieter built and was driven by defending world champ Hans Krage. Dan Kirts drove Marshall's monster dual Konig and I had a dual rotary valve US style F built by Marshall Grant. It had two carbs on each side. You could see all the way through the motor. Had to caution the pit crew not to look through the carbuerator when we primed it because they might get a shot of gas in the eye. We bought it from Marshall after Billy Seebold started racing OPC.

I finished ahead of both these motors because of a lower profile and less weight allowed me to get around the course quicker. However, my motor was not eligible for the world because it was an OE. They wanted more entries and allowed me to step up. My "best friend" Joe Rome THREW ME OUT one heat for supposedly jumping the gun. We still laugh over that one.

What amazes me is that the dual Konig would ever complete a heat with power it had and such a small reservoir in the lower unit. Marshall Grant IS a master mechanic. He needs to fill us in on the details. BTW he did have the right driver for 130 mph. All he was lacking was a bigger boat.

[Mark75H]

I addtion to any homebrews, some or most of these were König factory 8's; the special König dual drive shaft lower unit is unique to the factory side by side 8's. Dieter made the dual driveshaft lower unit, too. Dieter submitted the paperwork to NOA on the specs for the side by side 8's as early as 1968.

A collector has the 6. I have seen pictures of it at the Tomahawk and maybe Oshkosh antique outboard shows.

[Jeff Lytle]

Any stories to share on this one Sam ??

Factory 850cc OE as I recall. Notice the 1 piece heads

The 1st time I saw this pic I wondered how and where they would run the rotary valve belt(s) to turn the discs. Sam.........Fill us in.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Sam, You blew me away with the fact that more than one of these exists. I never saw any evidence of that during the times when I was at Dieter's factory. But then again, Dieter always had something in the werke's. I don't know how you can come up with so much obscure history. Keep it up.

[Mark75H]

The 1st time I saw this pic I wondered how and where they would run the rotary valve belt(s) to turn the discs

I wondered the exact same thing, but the answer is easy .... Dieter cheated us ..... he used reed valves! Genius without equal!

Steve Litzell told me something else about the stacked 8 .... I haven't looked at those notes in a while, it might have been that there was a lot of trouble keeping the blocks aligned and the cranks aligned .... of course, about the time they got it really right, UIM outlawed the König 8 in F3.

[Mark75H]

We've gone a little off track here .... Dan M got the main thing about the back to back blocks .... all the porting is on the same side of the block. On the motorcycles this was the bottom .... on the boats it was the inside where the 2 blocks touched.

Was there something else?

[Jeff Lytle]

The blocks have the intake and exhaust on the same side. Standard 500's had them on opposite sides. Dieter also used this block in a motorcycle. Sam, I this you have made reference to the bike on another forum.

Dan

In other words, you got part of it. There is something else too.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Engine rotation? and drive shaft to propshaft arrangement? Also I forgot about how the throttle hookup was, since carbuerators are on opposite sides.