Ford HSC engine

In the late 1970s Ford began planning a new smaller front wheel drive (FWD) compact car that became the Ford Tempo. The Tempo was designed to use a four-cylinder engine, but all production of Ford's 2.3 L Lima OHC four was committed to other product lines. At the same time, the 1983 end of life of Ford's 200 cubic inch Thriftpower Six inline six left unused capacity at the Lima Engine plant. Ford developed a four-cylinder engine that shared some features of the Thriftpower six, topped with a new cylinder head and using other new technologies, while repurposing as much tooling as possible at the Lima plant. To maximize use of existing tooling the new engine shared spindle spacing where possible with the Thriftpower six, resulting in similar cylinder, crankshaft, and tappet bores, as well as crankshaft journal diameters. Reliability and durability were key design goals for the engine. It was designed for use with an automatic transmission, and was optimized to deliver most of its power at low engine speeds. Extensive efforts were made to reduce losses due to valvetrain friction. To accelerate development of the combustion chamber shape, a test engine was created using an engine block from a 1980 model year Thriftpower six that was cut, shortened, and brazed together again, resulting in a four-cylinder engine displacing . Since the Tempo's front chassis member spacing was the same as the first generation North American Ford Escort, the engine's transverse package length had to be minimized, which was done by reducing the deck length between the end cylinder bores and ends of the block. Camshafts, crankshafts, and connecting rods for the engine were produced at Ford's Cleveland Engine Plant #2. Engine assembly took place at Ford's Lima plant, suitably upgraded. A new state-of-the-art engine assembly line was built at Ford's Chihuahua Engine facility in Chihuahua, Mexico. When the Tempo was released, a turbocharged version of its new engine was said to be in development, but this configuration never became available. ==Features==

The HSC engine has a cast iron block and head, with a single cam-in-block and two overhead valves (OHV) per cylinder with pushrods and rocker arms. The cylinder head is a reverse flow design that puts the intake and exhaust ports on the same side of the head. ==2.3 L==

The 2.3 L HSC was introduced in 1984 in the Ford Tempo and Mercury Topaz. Bore and stroke are , for a total displacement of . This engine produced and of torque. For 1984 HSC engines for US 50 state cars were fitted with a 1-barrel Holley 6149 carburetor, while cars for Canada received a non-feedback Holley Model 1949. In 1985 American-market engines received Central Fuel Injection (CFI), which reduced power to . Ford addressed the power decrease in the base engine by releasing the HSO version for performance-oriented variants of the Tempo (GLS) and Topaz (LTS/XR5). A switch to multi-port fuel injection in 1988 raised horsepower to . Sequential fuel injection was added for 1992, increasing horsepower to . That same year the HSO variant was dropped, as the sportier versions of the Tempo/Topaz received the 3.0 L Vulcan as standard equipment. Applications: • 1984–1994 Ford Tempo • 1984–1994 Mercury Topaz ==2.5 L==

A 2.5 L HSC version appeared in 1986. Its displacement resulted from its longer stroke. The engine block's deck height was raised to from the of the 2.3 L. The extra displacement was deemed necessary for it to serve as a four-cylinder engine option for fleet customers of the new Ford Taurus. This engine used the head and camshaft from the HSO engine and produced and . It sold in low volumes (less than 15% of the HSC engines built) and was costly due to the tooling changeover required for the taller deck height. The earliest 2.5 L came standard with electronic multi-port fuel injection. It received sequential fuel injection in 1991, raising output to and of torque. Applications: • 1986–1991 Ford Taurus • 1986 Mercury Sable == References ==