Did some finagling today and it fits much better.
1) I trimmed around 2 inches off the radiator end of the radiator hose. That pulled the hose bend away from the air cleaner.
2) Added the thicker carb to intake gasket. It's about 1/8" thicker than the previous one.
3) Used a couple of air cleaner to carb gaskets and used a 1/2" section of 5/8" heater hose for the top vent grommet.
4) Rotated the driver's side elbow to fully ride up against the heat riser valve. I also was able to rotate the clamp 180 degrees to fit in behind the heat riser valve.
5) I removed 2 of the 3 washers that I had under the two mounting points of the rear A/C triangle bracket, leaving only one washer to space the bracket up just enough to barely touch the valve cover.
6) I squeezed a permanent dent into the passenger side corrugated hose in the area that it passes over the unique cut out in the A/C triangle bracket.
7) The valve covers are using the correct 1/4" thick 455HO valve cover gaskets so they can clear the oil deflector cages. The regular gasket is 1/8" thick on the D-port 400, 455 engines.
Here are some photos of today's fun:
