any GM quad 4 experts around here?

I went to check out a '97 buick skysomething or annother yesterday for a friend of the family that needs a cheap car. The asking price on this is very low considering that it is pretty clean and has only 60k miles on it, but it runs poorly and sometimes stalls for no apearent reason. It has a 2.4l DOHC 4 cyl with a coil pack ignition mounted inbetween the cam covers, I assume that this is a quad-4. I pulled off the coil pack to check the plugs and do a compression check, and when I did I found the boots of the coil sticks were realy gross looking and the plugs looked like they had recently been replaced but still looked bad. The real issiue is though, #1 & #3 cylinders have low compression, about 75psi each. Is this most likely a bad head gasket or do these engines just wear out that fast? The other 2 cyl had over 170 psi each. The motor oil looked clean and the engine didn't knock or rattle when I listened to it, and it was stone cold before I started it.

I told the family friend to kep looking, but I'm wondering if this would be a good car tho buy/fix/flip, it might even be a good candidate for the BABE rally too. What do you guys think?

That is the 2.4 Twincam, almost the same as the Q4, but interchangeability is pretty much restricted on that one from 96-99, if I recall. They aren't a bad motor, with the #3 rod bearing being probably the most prevalent problem, but considering the number of them on the road with 200-300k, the problem is not that significant. A bitch to work on, and worth practically nothing, it's not a good candidate to fix/flip. Whatever he is asking, it's probably too much, IMO.

For 1997, the only 4cyl vehicle offered by Buick was the Skylark. Also available in 3.1L V6.
Pretty much just a Buick version of a Grand Am and equally not worth much.

The stalling could be a bad idle air control valve or worse case scenario a fuel pump. The 2.4's have a "wasted spark" ignition system meaning the plug fires twice per cycle which wears the plugs out sooner. Everyone I've talked to recommends either NGK or AcDelco platinum plugs and the plug boots are cheap enough, too.