If I recall correctly, these were surprisingly quick and handled decently. The follow up SCCA special (with slightly even more power) was an even better performer.

 

I remember the same, the downfall was NVH from the Quad 4.

 

I had a 1990 Grand Am GT with the H.O Quad and a 5 speed. That car would run nose to nose to stock Mustang Gt's. And yes, earplugs were recommended. Fun car non the less. The 5 speed shifter sucked though. I haven't seen one in many years now.

 

Is there much difference between this car and a Quad-442?

 

THis was the best of the Quad powered cars. I think the Olds versions all had a few more ponies (5?) than their Chevy and Pontiac brethren. I thought the clean lines on the outside and gauge cluster on the inside made this the best looking all around.

I so desperately wanted a Quad 4 Grand Am way back, but alas never happened. I guess the way they ate head gaskets initially prob wasnt a bad thing not getting it

 

Got to remember in the early 1990s we had V8s making 250 HP max in the Camaro and then this had 190 HP. That era 4 cylinders were making MAYBE 120-130.

The HO Quad4 was a great engine for power.

 

I think the Grand Am's engine was a generic HO motor, while Olds had one that was stronger than that. I know in one year (1991?) they had a W41 4-4-2 with about 200 made. These years are very fuzzy to me so I could be wrong.

 

Nope, the Grand Am had the real HO as well. Was an option on the SE for the same years as the Cutless.

 

There was an Achieva SCX if I remember correctly that had 190HP HO Quad-4. It tore up the SCCA class for a while if I recall. The regular quad-4's made a little less HP

 

From my resource, W41 was Oldsmobile-only. The Grand Am never received a special engine except for the early HO like the Calais International Edition in the OP above.

 

Technically correct but the only difference was the cams basically. I've driven a swapped Grand Am, it was fun for sure.

 

Well, if it had a different RPO it would be a different engine, no?

 

Nope, not really. Only the cams were swapped out and a different CPU. Literally everything else was the same. The getrag 282 was a great FWD transmission with a crappy shifter.

 

Love this thing! My first car was an '88 Olds Calais coupe, a basic 2.5L / 3 speed auto, but I loved it.

 

It seems to me that an engine in a 180-horse state of tune, with an RPO code of LGO, is different than a 190-horse W41. The fact that the camshaft is the main difference between the two is irrelevant to the fact that they are two distinct engines.

It certainly has been enlightening reading about these engines.

 

Fine, they are different. They share two parts in an engine that has about a three hundred different parts. You swap out the cams in a LG0 and you have a W41. It's not like the difference between a 305 and a 350. They shared everything except the cams.


Think of it this way, if I throw a cam in my GTO, I don't have a completely different engine do I? When people put in a cam do they say they have changed the whole engine? No.

 

Nope, someone is just being crazy picky.

 

Horsefeathers. Borrowing from your GTO example, there must be no difference between a standard GTO engine and the 400 HO even though they have a different cam.

No one is saying they're a different design, but they are in two different states of tune - that's what we call "different engine" in the car hobby.

 

 

Just heard back from my Olds friend who confirms a hunch of mine:

True, "the brand new HO Quad-4 engine (LG0), which did not become a regular production option until the 1990 model year."
I do have doubts about "None of these cars were sold new through dealerships. They were all placed into Oldsmobile company car service and were either sold to employees or to dealers at auction after they came out of service."

 

....and, from what I can gather, the Achieva W-41s were 185 hp and not 190.

 

Wow!

I can't remember the last time I've seen 1 of these Calais (of any type) on the road.....


Cort www.oldcarsstronghearts.com
pigValve, paceMaker, cowValve | 1979 Caprice Classic (awaiting new owner)
"But those days are gone" __ Anne Murray __ 'Time Don't Run Out On Me'

 

Wow!

I can't remember the last time I've seen 1 of these Calais (of any type) on the road.....

Considering the age and type of cars these engines were in............. most are junked; blown-up, rotted away or otherwise worthless.


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And lets not forget this engine was SO GOOD, and GM had SO MUCH Brand Equity in the name, when it was updated to 2.4L they buried the Quad-4 name in the same place Jimmy Hoffa rests....... and the "Twin Cam" was born! :yup:


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I remember in HS we got to look at one of these engines, pre-production in our auto shop class, our teacher was making a big deal about the lack of spark plug wires; coils right on the plugs.

 

By today's standards, it's very easy to be critical, but for it's time, this was a little jewel of a car.

*Though both the chassis and drive train may have needed a couple more engineering refinement passes.

I still like how the Calais nicely blends formal, sporty, and (some) futurist design elements.

 

That's right. Put in perspective these were nice little cars. I liked all three divisions offerings but the Calais I thought looked the best. Also, like you say the combination of these styling elements worked really well for it.

 

Further Reading

Two-Door Tuesday: 1991 Oldsmobile Cutlass Calais Quad 442 W-41 is rare, but is it collectible?

 

I have one that has all everything that seem to match the 87 aerotech long and short tail vehicles except the turbo instead mine has a tuned ecm that the sticker say is a remapped certified remanufactered ecm fir delphi delco electeonics with a hand programmed from super chip that was programmed by Collis Gurren who tired from the Arkansas state college in 2010 after 35 years and was degreed in chemistry and computer engineering that founded the anti ven tor the brown recluse and most of our anti snake venom which I think that chi is programmed with same performance that yhe turbo on the aerotech if not more and the two ecms delphi delco had tuned where 800 & 900 hp didn't specify the amount of tourque though amd the trip odometer always says 555 and if you try to 0 it out it roll right back over to 555 the total miles day exactly 150,000 I am yje 3rd owner of this car Collis Gurren bought it of his associate dean in 1991 with only 3000 ordinal miles and owned man I bought off only passed it for one week and I bought it in May 2022 mr.collis completely rebuild the engine with the new race cams heavy duty piston s rods and a forged race crank shift I hit q15 in 5 seconds and had to let out of at 4500 rpms cause my payment stretch was exactly 1/4 mile and the it's was a dirt y with a sharp curve and the car will start to winds up pretty tight then suddenly at 6500 rpms and for a pair second levels off the and winds up tight again with a small loss of acceleration if you hit 6700 and weather your in first 12345 the idle will not drop below 1100 ans in 5th gear will do exactly 35 mph with your foot flat on the floor