[2] 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.

[3] 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.

[7] 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.

This left the spark plugs, distributor, fuel pump, oil filter and starter on the front side of the engine, for ease of servicing.

A die-cast aluminum sump stiffens the entire engine assembly to reduce noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH).

[11] The intake manifold received larger runners and the air cleaner and exhaust system were redesigned to improve flow.

[4] In 1985 American-market engines received Central Fuel Injection (CFI), which reduced power to 86 hp (64 kW).

[8] 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).

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.

[14] 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.