I wonder if the bung was to check the oil temp as it came out of the engine - maybe another one at the exit of the cooler? Or..... for a gauge to check pressure drop on the enlarged system?
Now that you mention it the shape of what is coming out of the filter upon reexamination looks like it could be a thermocouple shape rather then a oil pressure hex shaped fitting. I was puzzled before when contemplating this odd set up because the 427 SC oil feed lines block adapter ( that was most likely used) has a provision for a oil pressure fitting which would eliminated the need for the odd set up on the filter in the picture if that was what it was for. Also with the oil pressure line run from the SC block adapter the oil line could take the regular production path to the gauge . If the line seen coming out of the oil filter was a thermocouple used for temperature gauge readings it would all make more sense especially since Eric has confirmed from pictures of a oil temp gauge mounted between the oil pressure/amp gauge .
Hello Bob,
There first photo was taken by Pete Biro for the Car and Driver road test, which I believe took place in November. It shows a single mount engine oil temperature gauge mounted under the dash to the right side of the standard Shelby gauge pod. Look carefully and you can see the mounting bracket and the right side of the gauge bezel. There was no engine oil cooler installed on the car at this time.
The second photo was taken by Bob D'Olivo on 12/12/66 for Motor Trend magazine. The engine oil temperature gauge is no longer present. So, it seems that once the engine oil cooler was installed they apparently believed the driver no longer needed to monitor engine oil temperature.
Eric