Beretta.net

so, it's been a while.. since I have owned or driven a Beretta..

out of the blue the young man who purchased my beloved 1990 Garnet GTZ has offered it back to me. I am currently trying to work out a deal to get my car back.. albeit it's engine (the one I replaced the original with) is "shot" and the front bumper was damaged by a stone wall collision.. regardless...

I am feeling like the Oldsmobile Quad Four engine is not the best route for this car anymore.

If I am to acquire it once again, which is a strong possibility, would something like a 3400 swap be more feasible and dependable without killing the awesome gas mileage the quad four got?

This is kind of a thread that I didn't know where to categorize, so please PM me or something if I put it in the wrong spot...

I don't think it would be overly difficult to do. You could swap the engine harness to v6, or possibly even just rewire the injectors and ignition, etc. I'm not sure what that would entail.

Would the 5 speed plug and play or would fabrication be required?

You would need v6 harness and and bellhousing for your transmission to work other then that it's pretty much plug n play. Best bet if u can find a v6 5sp car u would have everything needed including eco but would need custom tune chip to run it

It can be done, just need the parts. Wiring harness from a V6 - what year depends on how far you want to go tuning wise - 93 and older you can get a chip to burn, 96 you can tune with HP Tuners or DHP.

Bellhousing as mentioned.

Would have to look into engine mounting - not sure how the Quads were setup from the factory - but mounts can always be welded in as needed.

90 Quad has stupid mounts - you will have to change all of them out. I'd recommend the 92+ V6 style.

More work to swap to them mounts when readily available mounts are made for the older style not everyone has the know how or tools to do certain things

Is it easier in theory to rebuild the quad four? Pretty sure the gasket went. Haven't gotten any more info yet

MUCH easier just to rebuild or repair (or even replace, if needed) your Quad. Plus, they are becoming a rarer engine, so your car will keep some of its' original uniqueness... 3400s are solid powerplants if updated properly (i.e., ditch the crappy plastic Lower Intake Manifold Gaskets for steel/rubber ones from Fel-Pro, Victor-Reinz, or Dorman), but with all the custom mounts needed (if you have to measure placement and weld something in, that makes it 'custom'), replacing your tranny's bell-housing (split the case in half!) or new V-6 tranny, wiring AND ECU swap, (and don't forget your tach is calibrated for a four-popper, NOT a six-shooter, I think you need a new cluster to fix that, although some older GM clusters could be adapted with a capacitor change, I don't recall if ours can or not), and swapping to a V-6 is neither easy nor cheap. You can't even re-use your original flywheel on the V-6. The 3400s aren't necessarily even a newish engine anymore, so the only way to be sure it is solid is to spend time/money going through it, an investment that could have been put into the Quad. Doable though, if that is what you want to do... Step one is to get your car back! It doesn't sound like that other guy was treating her right, I hope this works out for you. Good luck!

Yeah.. I am still working out the details but he may be asking a bit much for how smashed up she got under his ownership. .

Thanks so much for the continued responses

Unsure what the decision is...

tvc3-gtz wrote:Is it easier in theory to rebuild the quad four? Pretty sure the gasket went. Haven't gotten any more info yet

Rebuilding a Quad4 is WAY easier than a V6 swap. Seriously - these engines are pretty damn simple and if you build it right, it will last a loooooong time.