[Excaliber]

The now discontinued in regular Ford production 302 cubic inch engine has been around a LONG time. The series started in 1960-61. It has seen duty in just about every Ford product over the years. Vans, pickups, Ford's, Mustangs, Mercury's. Best known for it's use in the Mustang series, now replaced by the modern 4.6 engine, an entirely new design which shares nothing with the old 302, often called the 5.0.

The Windsor engine family (produced in Windsor) started out life as a 221, grew to 260 and settled down for some historic years as the legendary 289 (Cobras used them). Grew some more to 302 and then stopped growing with the final application, a 351W (Windsor). NOT to be confused with it's cousin the 351C (Cleveland), a completely different engine which was only produced a few years.

The 427 is in the FE family, started life in 1959. 331, 352, 360, 390, 427 and 428 (no doubt I missed a couple of versions). The FE series is totally different than the Windsor series engines. 427-428 used in the 1965 and up Cobras.

429 is a "385" series engine, nothing in common with the other families, a new design. 429 and 460 being the most popular. Never used in the Cobra lineup. Was used in some Mustangs.

First up-grade for a 302 (for me) would be an intake manifold\carb (or EFI up-grade), camshaft and finally heads.