Airraid system rubs hood

Recently I did all the fun intake/exhaust mods to my '98 XJ 4.0: '01 intake manifold; Airraid cold air system; header; bored out TB;Dynomax cat and catback exhaust.
The only glitch is that the plastic intake tube from the K&N filter that goes to the TB is rubbing the paint off the interior side of the hood. The hood is aligned properly. The silicone adapter collar that goes between the TB and intake air tube is on fully and the tube is pushed into it as far as it can go... and I have trimmed the collar back as much as possible. I am not using a TB spacer...not sure they work and it would probably cause the intake tube to dent the hood at this point.

Has anyone else had this problem and found a fix for it?

Maybe you have a broken motor mount?
EDIT: Worsty case Scenario

the K&N is tight, try to slim down the rubber hose between the two

Have the same problem. Trimming the rubber hose can only be done so far. I have the intake and K&N tube touching each other and still rubs on the hood.

Yep, I also trimmed the silicone collar as much as possible to shorten it... and the intake tube is still touching the hood. I did check the motor mounts. They are fine. No excessive movement of the engine from torque. Guess I'll just put a small piece of Dr. Scholl's Moleskin from the drug store on the plastic intake tube where the rub is happening. Maybe even put a few drops of engine oil on the moleskin. At least that will shine the quarter-sized part of the hood that is now bare-metal.