1991w41

hey, I am new to the site. My father and I are restoring a 1991 Oldsmobile Cutlass Calais W41 442. One of only 204 built. We are in the process of getting it running and cleaning it up right now. Great solid foundation and loads of power, the 1991 w41 is equipped with the Quad 4 High output W41 engine rated for 190 hp. FE3 suspension, the works. Olds sold a very limited run of these car so they could use them as "stock" racing class.
The car came with lots of spare parts. Got a complete extra W41 engine,
4 cylinder heads, and much more.

It sat for the last 8 or 9 years, heres after we unloaded it:









The RPO plate on core support:


Quad4 High Output!!


Clean!!!








Started cleaning interior and seats:



Before on left, After on right


Dropped fuel tank to inspect fuel pump and tank is Full of rust. New tank and pump ordered.


Replaced rear shocks


Replaced driver side ball joint (old one was falling apart)


Brakes!!


Cleaned rims and replaced pads and rotors:

More to come!!

car_designer

Great looking car. Welcome to the forum from a 1990 Quad442 owner.

rocketraider

Oh hell yes!

1995 OCA Nats in Greensboro NC, a young guy from Ohio showed up with one of these- matter of fact his was red too. He'd never been to a Nationals before but he and I hit it off pretty good. I'm ashamed to say that after 17 years I can't remember his name, but I remember the car very well.

Bunch of us set out cruising High Point Road around 9PM that Friday night. I needed to disappear from the show for a while by that time so I rode shotgun with the kid in the W41. Friend of mine from Atlanta had a silver 70 W30 convert and they were ahead of us when this late 70s Camaro pulls out of a side street and into the lane beside the W30, woofing and rumbling, probably thinking an easy kill. We could see Fred telling his three passengers "Hold on and watch this".

Light went green, Camaro roars out with all kinds of sound and fury. Fred gave him about a car length and opened up a can of Oldsmobile whoop-*** on the Camaro- three car lengths ahead at the next light. What was hilarious was the Camaro was in the middle lane of 3 and that little red W41 was all over his *** too. He could not shake those Oldsmobiles and couldn't get in either outside lane to turn off and run away.

Didn't hurt that a Greensboro police captain and his Law Enforcement Explorer post were doing overnight security for us, so GPD kinda looked the other way as long as we didn't get too stupid.

starfire

Glenn, all 1991 Quad 442s were red with grey interior. No power options available either. That's why I liked my 90 better, although it marginally was not as quick. You are right though, those cars could hang with the big boys. Really wish I had not had to sell mine.

Allan R

Nice job cleaning it up. Always loved those Calais's. Had one of the early ones in 85 but that was a completely different motor - the tech 4. You have a really nice car and project. Great pictures and detail work. Can't wait to see it all finished.

I noticed the steering wheel is tattered, any plans to have it re bound?

jensenracing77

Great cars. I had one from 93 to 09. It is in the top 3 funnest Oldsmobiles i ever owned. Most people just can't believe how quick these cars are. they are very much worthy of the W logo.

1991w41

Thanks everyone! To above question we plan on replacing the steering wheel. More pics later. We replaced the heater core, rad hoses, air filter straighened the radiator fins, and replaced brake lines. Also new thermostat just to be safe.

jensenracing77

Do you have the window sticker? it will tell what number of the 204 your car is. Are you in Michigan?

1991w41

unfortunatly not. I'm located in alabama btw

Allan R

Is there any other way to find the build number of the car based on VIN?

BTW, just looked at that dash cluster again. Brings back memories of my 85 Calais. Looks like the WW controls are missing? Hope it's just somewhere waiting to be installed.

rocketraider

Alan, I knew that but guess I was thinking of the ones Bill Black Jr (Black Cad-Olds, G-boro) was running in SCCA about that time. They had a red, a black and a blue one set up.

Great progress on the car!

1991w41

Thanks for the positive feedback! I'm ready to hear this car run.
Oh yeah, we've still gotta replace the carpet and redo the headliner then we'll reinstall everything we took out. In the meantime, heres some more pics:

We replaced the heater core, afterwards I Cleaned up the Dashboard, and restored it using a Meguiars Natural Shine
This product works great and really brings out the original color.
Before:

After:


My Dad removed the radiator and a/c condensor, the radiator fins were all bent up from debris flying into them.


Here's the radiator with fins all straightened out, he spent alot of time doing this.


Replaced the engine air filter, the old one was horrible.


Re-installed radiator, new thermostat and rad hoses and engine bay cleaned up a little bit:


Random Pic but I really like the oldsmobile decal on the hood:

1991w41

1991w41

Has anyone noticed there are no window cranks on this car?

jensenracing77

I never heard of that before. Do you have any info on why?

starfire

Did a previous owner put power windows in it? Maybe they put the switches in the console?

1991w41

The original owner installed aftermarket power windows and locks. Just finished removing all that and returned it back to manual. Now im in need of the console piece around the shift due to the hole cut out for the power window switches....anyone have one they wouldnt mind parting with? Also the trim piece one the drivers side behind the door in front of the back tire? Ive got the remenants of the old one but its cracked and beyond repair.

OLD SKL 69

Welcome to CO! Nice straight starting point for a resto. The meguiars stuff really worked well on your dash. It looks new from the photos. How many miles are on it?

1991w41

1991w41

Thanx,my son is the detailing monster on this project,still have lots to do. This car actually has 219,000 miles on it....lol. thats the biggest reason we are goin thru all of the machanicals on it from bumper to bumper before we start restoreing the exterior and interior.

Kaline

Great project! The car looks pretty clean overall and very restorable. It is good to see a W-41 being saved!

I drove a 1988 Calais International Series Quad-4 (150 hp "Low-Output") 5-speed as a daily driver from 1990-2002. I put 179k miles on the car with very few powertrain issues. The car was a lot of fun to drive: more fun than most people would expect. The guy I sold it to drove it to at least 230k miles (Michigan winters were killing the body at that point).

Keep us updated with your progress!