any downfalls of a shorty oil filter??

You can modify the adapter to flow better. There are several artictles on this.
I'm sure that you can do these quite easily with a drill. Like 360 Scamp says, Frams are crap. I run K&N on my Dakota, and a Mopar filter on my Dart.

do you know where i can find these articles? are they hear or in magazines/ on another site?

in regards to fram, i dont think i have one on there now, but what is so bad about them? thats pretty much all the local auto parts store stocks anyways:munky2: