I humbly concede that GT Power is mostly right and I am mostly wrong. I had speculated that there *must* be other reasons why the oil filters were spec'd differently - maybe the anti-drain back valve or the bypass valve. However, as can be seen in the video, both of these are just about identical - as is the size and construction of the media, number of pleats, length/area of the filter media. I was wrong. The big difference is the robustness of the cannister which is substantial compared to the FL500 - something that GT Power was exactly right about.
I have both filters here as well, and the thickness of the can is easily "feelable". First, you can feel the weight difference and second, you can kind of squeeze the FL500 and de-form it, whereas you cannot do this with thicker cannister on the NFGT filter.
My expressed doubts stemmed from the fact that despite being dry-sumped, the NFGT does not run normal oil pressures substantially different than any other car. I still contend that this is the case - and this is reinforced by referencing the NFGT Service manuals. But, the oil pump is robust and the NFGT even employs a 150psi bypass valve as described in the service manual. This will insure that the oil filter and other components should never see any psi above 150 and this is well below the 300psi burst strength test standard of traditional (spin-on) oil filters. However, what GT Powers had previously stated about a "ballooning" of the FL500 oil filter in the NFGT application could, when cycled, cause fatigue and ultimately failure. An improved, more robust, thicker cannister could mitigate this - although it still seems to be an area to keep an eye on since there seem to have been at least a couple of failures with the new, "better", filter.
Other the my unforeseen consideration of metal fatigue, I will still contend that oil filters when presented with high pressures will fail at the rubber gasket. Here is a link to a lowly, common FRAM filter tested to 300psi, allegedly again and again. The failure occurs at the gasket.
It is speculated that Purolator may manufacture the filters for Ford/Motorcraft. Here is another video of a burst test of a Purolator oil filter. Two things to notice here. The burst occurs at 600psi and the comment is that this is 2X the test standard (which is 300psi). The second thing to notice is that the failure is, once again, at the gasket.
By the way, one very important take-away for NFGT owners - especially those doing their own maintenance and/or those taking their car to shops that are not trained in the NFGT. The Service Manual explicitly instructs that the filters should be pre-filled before installation. There is a more or less split consensus on if filters should be pre-filled before installation with the naysayers claiming that pre-fill risks introducing containments and that risk isn't worth the benefits. However, in the case of the NFGT, they are very specific about the need to do this!
