MyQuad4

I joined in November 2013 and never introduced myself. My name is Scott, I live in Virginia. I have always loved Oldsmobile vehicles my entire life. My first new car was a 1988 Olds Cutlass Calais Coupe base model, which I traded in 1989 for a new Cutlass Calais S Coupe that I ordered from the Olds dealer in Charlottesville, VA. I absolutely LOVED that car! Many years ago I sold it to a friend of mine and regretted it from the day I sold it. I always told myself that if I ever found another I would buy it immediately.

Working where I do I see a lot of cars come and go, I am the Parts Department Manager at a dealership in Suffolk, VA. We are the largest used car dealer in Virginia and the 12th largest in the USA, as well as selling Suzuki (now we are a parts and warranty service center since they pulled out of the country) at my lot and the GM lines at another lot. We have had 2 Calais's come through in my 7 years here and I bought them both. The first one was an '89 SL sedan with the FE3 Sport Suspension pkg, and the second was my '91 International Series Coupe. I have always loved the International Series looks and never knew how rare they are until I bought mine. They only produced 597 of them in 1991, making it the second rarest vehicle GM has EVER produced, eclipsed only by the 1991 Oldsmobile Cutlass Calais Coupe W-41 package, of which they made only 204, and 15 of those were produced strictly for racing in the SCCA Showroom Stock Series (which it won in 1990 and 91, the only years they were produced in Calais form).

Here are a few pictures of my car, please feel free to ask any questions or tell me how crazy I am for loving these little cars.

oldcutlass

Welcome, you shouldn't have waited so long on the intro. Thanks for sharing.

MyQuad4

Thank You! You are right, I shouldn't have.

76olds

Your crazy Mike Duman !!! The car does look good welcome to CO.

MyQuad4

Thanks! I have done a lot to her, with many more things left to do. Parts are crazy hard to find for this thing, especially the I-Series specific stuff. You might have noticed the center caps do not match, I have been looking for them for nearly a year now with no luck. They are long discontinued from GM and I cannot find good used caps anywhere (the caps on the passenger side are correct, the ones on the drivers side are Cutlass Ciera caps).

There is an issue with the ABS, the amber light stays on and it has 6 completely unrelated codes in the computer (I replaced the ABS computer and the same 6 codes came back).

I replaced the shocks and struts, they were the OE parts, with KYB GR2 shocks and struts.

When I picked her up the gas door had been sprung by the previous owner, bent back to the body where there is a nice small dent.

Recently I was prepping her for summer and I found the A/C had lost all of the freon. I have a line that has a kink in it, so I went looking for a new one, discontinued. I found a good used one locally in a car part thrift store (AKA junkyard). I called the yard with the car, they confirmed they had the right one and they gave it to me! It is good to do what I do for a living sometimes

Soon I will be replacing that line and deciding what to do as far as refrigerant goes. I have 60 lbs of R-12, but I am not too sure it isn't just gonna leak back into the air and I would sure hate to waste it!

The front pads and rotors are on my list for this week, as well as a tire rotation, rear drum brake adjustment, and a search for an oil leak that I believe is coming from the timing cover.

Allan R

Those are great little cars! I owned one (factory order) back in 1985. It was a 5 speed with the tech 4 engine, and all the other bells and whistles you could get back then. Mine was carmine with the red velour interior. The MT gearbox was really tight but an easy throw.

Before this I had a 1983 Ninety Eight Regency Brougham that came off the showroom floor (Burgandy with velour plush matching interior). I really missed that car and ended up trading the Calais straight across for another 85 Regency Brougham with low miles. Both were really great cars, but I loved the space and carrying capacity of the 98 better.

MyQuad4

Thanks Allan! I really love the N-Body cars, especially the Calais. This one is a '91 with the Quad 4 and currently the auto, I am debating whether or not to leave it completely original or not by doing the 5 speed swap. Here is a pic of my engine...

MyQuad4

I truly want another 5 speed but do not want to mess with the car by swapping it in, it may hurt the future value. I know these will probably be as collectible as a '72 Pinto, but you never know.

Allan R

Your Quad 4 is a much nicer engine than the Tech 4. Mine had TB fuel injection - yours is full fuel injection and more power too.

If you do change out the AT to a 5 speed, I know you'll like it, but there's a lot of parts to change out. You'd have to find one of the Quad 4 -442s to get what you're really looking for without modifying your International Calais IMO. I think the mod would hurt the valuation as there weren't a lot of these cars built, and the majority did have the Iron Duke Tech 4 IIRC

hullinger

Welcome aboard. That's a fantastic car you have there. I always liked what Olds was doing in those years and your car is a perfect example. I know there aren't as popular as other generations but I think their lines and proportions are just outstanding.

Chris

Boldsmobile

I'm a fan!

m455sx

nice car- thanks for the info! now i will be on the look out for one.
on another note what was the 1/4 mile times for the quad 4?

442

Nice car neighbor! (I'm in Va Beach). If you have to replace the AC line again, I had one made for my 85' Caprice at Portsmouth Rubber for about $150.00 I believe.

MyQuad4

0-60 and 1/4 mile times varied with the version of the Quad4 you had. It came in 3 different forms:

Low Output: 150 to 165 hp and 160-170 ft lbs torque

High Output: 180 HP and 175 ft lbs torque

W41: 190 HP and 180 ft lbs torque

Consider the time these cars were built, and look at the performance cars of the era and those numbers were pretty impressive. The Goodwrench standard 350 V8 crate motor of the time only had 190 HP.

0-60 times for the LO with a manual transmission were in the low 8's and 1/4 mile times of 15.5 @ 84 mph.

In W41 FORM, the times were 0-60 times improved to 7.0 and 1/4 mile times improved to 14.7 @ 95 mph.

One of the nicest things about the cars was the performance Muncie/Getrag 5 speed manual gear box. It was a short throw close ratio gearbox that came with several different final drive ratios (from 2.84:1 to 3.97:1) and some had a limited slip differentials (if you can imagine the steering wheels with that!).

There were only 204 W41 Quad 442's built, and I know a guy selling 2 of them if anyone is interested.

MyQuad4

Hello there! I also own a Caprice, 1993 bubble, with the 305 roller motor. I think I burned up the computer in it and the fuel tank is out. I was replacing the fuel pump/sending unit and it wouldn't work. Another project...

MyQuad4

Actually, the 5 speed swap is very easy on these. Both the auto and the manual use the same mounts, the shifter assy bolts right in, the clutch master cylinder holes are pre-marked on the firewall, the pedal bolts right on, the cables mount in the same place the auto shift cable goes, and all that is left is swapping the flex plate for a bolt on flywheel and new CV axles.

Keener

Welcome and nice car. My first encounter with a 442 was a 1990 Quad 442, 5spd back in 1993. I was working at an electronics store and the owner of the car wanted us to install a new head unit, mid range speakers, and add an amp and subs in the trunk. So, I picked this car up in Stevens Point, WI and drove it to the Wausau, WI store location where we did installs. What a blast to drive!!

nsnarsk65cutlass

Welcome, i remember working on those back in the day and recall it being a pain replacing the water pump.Nick