honestly for your climate, you could probably remove the oil cooler completely without any ill effect.. I would want at least a 1/2 inch clearance myself.. (heat transfer for one issue, abrasion another)..
1/2 inch, hmmm, looks like the easy answer would be to order the flexible line. I hate to think of trying to fit washers behind the bottom brace, I removed it for install and it was a challenge to get it back on with the header in place, can't imagine doing that with washers added to the equation.
I'll leave the oil cooler on, I'm all for keeping things as cool as I can and in the summer we do get some 100+ days from time to time.
Any ideas on where to find flex line for the oil cooler? I've checked sponsors here and I'm not locating any