Another TEC owner (front and rear). Never had any fitment issue. The bar dropped right in the first time and I have taken it out multiple times since and never had to do much than knock it with my hand to take it out. Never noticed the bar contorting when tightening the bolts.
I also have the MAP sensor on top of the plenum on my car (99 VR-4) and didn't have any issues with it coming in contact with the bar.
So that makes me wonder too whether your car is out of spec. Are you the original owner? The reason I ask is because I had an issue with a racing dynamics strut bar that wouldn't fit on an E30 M3. Turned out to be that the distance between the strut towers was out of specs because of a previous accident.
another possibilty would be that the bar you got is from a defective batch or that it has been somehow damaged (bent).
Also from the picture below, I see that you have mounted the bolts holding the battery tie-down backwards. The threads should be going out not in so that they don't come in contact with the strut tower.
Reda/