Air filter question

[smittykid]

The fellow that rebuilt my distributor talked me into going with this longer air filter. I purchased the adapter(longer rod) and the filter from Snyder's. When I picked the car up he showed me how close the new filter was to the exhaust pipe. He said I should probably buy an adapter to change the position of the filter. I called Snyder's this morning and asked if anyone was having trouble with this set up and if they had a part to change the position of the filter. He told me the only calls they have received was about the wing nut vibrating loose and coming off. He suggested I remove the unit and put some blue Locktite on the wing nut. Anyway, when I got the filter unit off I noticed that a portion of the plastic band on the bottom of the filter was melted and about an inch or so of the filter paper behind the screen was brown. Not good. I probably have put on about 40 miles on the car since this was installed. Does anyone know of any way to reposition the filter? This set up now scares the h*ll out of me. Any suggestions? Should I get rid of this and start over? Thanks, Smitty