Hooker and Clifford Hedders

Which is better overall. I know Hookers are long tube (better balance and little more power) and Cliffords are shorties but a few things do concern me. Are the Hookers a bit close to the power steering box? Reason being I want to drive the car ALOT and dont want to 'cook' the gearbox in the process. Next concern is the flange thickness. I sized up my hedders with an aluminum intake and found the hedder flange is about an 1/8 of an inch thinner giving it a very loose fit. I have been shown that nuts can be welded on to help this problem. Someone told me the thickness of the Clifford shorties has a thicker flange and the hedders will fit snug, true or false? Does Hooker make a shim kit for an install with an aluminum intake? Kind of on the fence on which way to go. I would like reliable transportation without having to 'tweak' the hedders every time I turn around. Kind of sucks though in case the Cliffords are better due to the fact I had someone wanting these Hookers I have and that door has shut. Can anyone help with my questions, thanks.
Chas.