OK, first you do realize you need to have special rulers for a LA machine no matter what make you have. You need the 1/4" thick acrylic ones as opposed to what you use for cutting which are only about 1/8" thick.
Second, what does the foot on your machine look like now? A picture would be helpful. My machine came with two feet. A closed toe and an open toe. I always have the open toe on. I think the only difference is the closed toe is a full 1/4" from the needle on all sides. The open toe the gap is more like 3/8" from the front of the foot to the needle. I live with it, rather than swapping feet. But I certainly don't need to retime my machine to swap out feet. I have an Innova. I got it in 2011 but it was a dealer demo model. Still at that I don't think it was much older than a few years when I got it. So still quite newer than yours.