I would just keep smoothing away until you have clearance. That’s what I personally would do. The intake is a grand....plus your custom porting and the TB is another $500 or so...I’m not grinding away on those pieces IMO. That aluminum is likely thicker then you think. Or just cut your losses and try another system proven to work with the MSD. People are using that intake/TB set-up with the stock pump...is the spacing just off with an oem pump?
There is almost no room to clearance on the TB. The o-ring is within 1/8" of the OD. I took some pseudo measurements on the wall thickness of the pump. It's a casting, so it will vary, but I don't think anywhere it is more than a 1/4"... The issue is finding a pump that I can use spacers with to keep the Vintage Air system spacing happy. I was looking around the internet tonight and interestingly, the Edelbrock Victor series LS pumps look very much like the Vintage Air one except it is much 'thinner' under the throttle body area. I need to measure the height of the Vintage Air pump in the morning to see how it compares. Thanks Tim for the info. If the Edelbrock craps out, I'll take a look at the LS1s. I really do appreciate all the feedback. Thanks guys...
You can't take it all off of the pump or you'll go threw the casting, some has to come off of the tb. If you don't want to do that I would use a C6 pump because it has a really short sheave line which will allow you to space the pump out to get to the sheave line you have now. The aftermarket pumps have a longer nose to eliminate the need for spacers.
Richard, I believe Stewart makes the pumps for Vintage Air and Wegner. They may have a different pump or be able to give you some dimensions to work with.
I bought an Edelbrock pump. Supposed to be here tomorrow. If that doesn't work, I'm going to try a C6.