installing headers a/c bracket necassary???

i have an 84' caprice classic when i got it a guy had put a 350 in it but had failed to utilize the right flywheel so i took care of all that and put in a new starter well she runs pretty ruff burns alot of oil and what not but thats not the problem i am in the middle of putting on a set of flowtech (cheap!!!) headers, i started with the drivers side and well it seems that i cant get the bolts for the ac bracket to go straight in cause of the #1 tube not a big deal ill just remove the a/c system
how??? anything special or can i just remove all of it

and another ? is the oil filter almost looks like its touching the collector is there a different oil filter that is shorter that would work