650 Holley DP instead of a Thermoquad, BUMMER

With the spacer/adapter on the TQ there wasn't going to be enough hood clearance. I bought the lowest drop base air cleaner I could find and put it all together.....to find that it won't have enough clearance. So...I took and put an old crusty 650 double pumper om there and measured it all up. The holley will work . No big deal some of you say...it is a huge deal as I really want to run the TQ and don't want to cut the hood. not ready to cut up a stock steel hood in excellent shape. The only other cheap fix I can come up with is make a "filter" out of "foam" and use the underside of the hood as the top of the air cleaner. Any of you guys run into this and come up with cheap fixes?????????????