Interesting pictures Doug thanks for sharing.
Has the idea that what ever it was that clogged the filter in the first place, was failing, and the crushed filter was simply a symptom?
I would submit that a oil filter in a common modern designed engine, being well ventilated(PCV) with low(modern) blow by, would have a fairly easy job. Some modern cars go two or 3 oil changes before changing the filter(per the manufacturer), and have a much smaller filter than a PH8A.
I agree that FRAM isn't the best filter. But I think its a symptom of failure, not the cause. If you disagree, what would a better designed filter done in this case to save the engine?
In aviation we have many filters and they all have a bypass. The theory being that dirty oil is better than no oil, and used to get you to the ground only, no to continue service. I have yet to see a filter bypass tripped when the component didn't require replacement based on inspection and oil samples. I would imagine that if a sample was taken on this engine it would have shown the failure was imminent. Now would it have gone 7 or 8 months with a better filter in complete bypass? Possibly, but the writing is on the wall once you have so much debris that it clogs a large filter like a PH8A.
Now, filter surface area, media quality, and micron filtering are other reasons to buy a better than FRAM filter, and there are plenty of them out there.
