Koenig engine ID

[A/B Speedliner]

We have a early Koenig engine that we have been told is a B engine. The serial number is 0301AH does that coincide with a B. If not could a number have been switched?
David

[Master Oil Racing Team]

That does not look like a regular Konig number, but then again I had 2 B's that were only stamped VB and one with a weird number not like a standard Konig. So it could be one that Dieter used a special serial number that meant something to him. Where exactly on the motor is this number? Maybe it is a system they used early on. How old do you think the motor might Be?

[DeanFHobart]

We have a early Koenig engine that we have been told is a B engine. The serial number is 0301AH does that coincide with a B. If not could a number have been switched?
David

Hello David,

Post some pictures of the complete motor and the serial number you describe.

[A/B Speedliner]

Here is a link to the listing we have on our store site. http://store.aeroliner-boats.com/epages/b2c9e2a5-bc51-4eaa-bfc4-f2ff92b27700.sf/en_US/?ObjectPath=/Shops/b2c9e2a5-bc51-4eaa-bfc4-f2ff92b27700/Products/%22Konig%20B%22

[Master Oil Racing Team]

I was looking earlier for photos of B Konigs from around 1964 to rule out that your motor could be that late and by then they had already changed. The first tuned exhausts Dieter built were in 1957 and your B has later generation exhaust than that, so in my opinion it was made between 1959 and 1962. As I further searched the internet I came across a link to BRF about your same motor posted almost five years ago. Steve Litzell had commented that he thought it was probably made in 1961 or 62. He himself had a couple just like it and he said that the serial number system might have been different back then. I think as Steve pretty much stated that your motor was a transition from the stock H designated motors to HR which was a racing version, and before the later 2 cylinder FB motors. The older motors were deflectors and the new was loop charged with a single carb and internal rotary valves on the crank. The serial numbers on the Konigs from the mid sixties on started with the year of production followed by the number of the particular class of that model produced that year. Steve also said that sometimes motors did not have a serial number if the factory was very busy and Dieter had to build some himself. He did not always bother to stamp a number on the ones he built. Case in fact....Dieter built me a motor for the 77 Pro Nationals that was only stamped VB. It was an experimental motor designed to run between 10,500 and 11,000 RPM's. He called while we were testing to give us new dimensions on the pipes as he was testing also on his dyno. Dieter also built us a motor the next year for the UIM World Championships held at Dayton. It also was only stamped VB. We never even made a test sheet for that motor and it turned out the best we ever had. So I think your serial number may have been something Dieter used during the transition and maybe to identify a prototype. The FB's that followed were substantially different, and were probably the most bulletproof racing motors ever built by Konig.