Distributor Vacuum pod to intake manifold interference issue

No, you cannot just 'move the wires around the dist cap'. The timing will be WRONG. This procedure is something I do regularly [ will be doing one this week ] when setting up MVA because the adj VA units stick out further [ as in this case ] & foul other engine parts.
This is how to do it:
- measure from one of the plug lead towers on the cap to another part. The greater the distance, the less chance of error. So measure to the inner fender as an example & mark both places [ cap & fender ].
- remove the dist cap & look at which tower the rotor is pointing. Take note/mark which cyl tower it is. Say it is #5.
- remove the dist.
- if you can rotate the dist half a turn & refit it with clearance for the VA, job done. Make sure the tower where the rotor points becomes #5 cyl. in the new firing order [ 1-8-4-3-6-5-7-2 CW ]
- if not, you will need to pull up the oil pump drive, rotate it & re-seat it. Looking at the pic in post#1, it looks like pump drive needs to be rotated 1-2 teeth CCW for the VA clearance. Bear in mind you may want to adjust the spring tension in the VA using an Allen key, so that maybe tight for clearnce. I use a cut off Allen key, but could still be tight. Other alternative is to turn the dist further for a more desirable location. It can be in any one of 8 positions. [ you may have to lengthen the supply wires to the dist ]
- once the dist is seated, tighten the clamp & position correctly, using the measurement from the first step. It will be a different tower, that is ok.
- fit the rotor & check which tower it points at. That is now is cyl#5. Refit the leads in the correct CW firing order.