DRIFTING? - 3rd Gen Nova front wheel/tire fitment

[NewSpin]

So I'm looking to do some autocross, track days, and maybe a bit of drifting with my '71 Nova. I have Chassisworks tubular control arms and their 2" drop spindles (taller style). I also have their coilovers and it's lowered... quite a bit hahaCan only just get a floor jack underneath the front subframe. I'm not against bringing it up a bit if need be. I'm hoping to run 17x9s with 275s all around. 275/40r17 up front and 275/50r17 out back. I know the rears wont be much of an issue, but the fronts will be a bit tricky. I might step down to 17x8 but no less than that, and I'd like to stay close to 0 offset either way (so 4.5" or 4" backspace for 9" and 8" respectively). I currently have 235/60-15s up front with 15x7s with I think 4.5" backspace Centerlines. With the car so low I sprta rolled the fender tabs with some channel locks and bent them out of the way, with stock steering arms etc I don't rub amazingly, but it's tight. I'm going to fully roll and stretch a bit (maybe even more than a bit) up front, I have no inner fenders. I'm wondering how difficult it will be to fit the tire and wheel size(s) I want to. I don't care about paint, so a bit of light bashing on things is fine with me, it's a car built to be driven not sit at shows. The kicker is this: I'm going to be doing some steering angle modifications down the road. Bump stops will be completely ground down, shortened steering arms and will fiddle with pitman arm and drag link even if need be. Nothing insane, but I am hoping for a decently dramatic increase in angle. How crazy am I? Might look into custom steering arms, at least modified stock pieces. They will be at least half as long as stock though.

[APE]

There's some petty good info on Stevesnovasite.com. There are a few guys on there running a 17x9 with a 245 up front. Seems it was around 5" of bs they were running. A 275 will require you to lose the inner fenders for sure

[NewSpin]

Yeah the inner fenders are gone and aren't going back in, even if I had them haha, were off the car when I got it. I've been browsing stevesnovasite too but not a ton of guys on there are using their cars for the track and such like they are on hete so I thought I'd see what people had to say

[rchaskin]

Novas don't drift.....lol

[rchaskin]

A 275 will fit under a Nova, but it has to be perfect BS with something like the TruTurn set up.

I don't think you can keep a 275 under the stock wheel lip with the addition of increased angle steering arms.
Cut the top of the fender to make it round, then you are unlimited!!

[NewSpin]

Randy that's awesome! Haha

And I'm going to be doing a little trimming and a lot of rolling and pulling. I'd like to see how much of the fender I can keep on there, not going to radius cut them NASCAR style but I'm not afraid to take maybe an inch out of it if need be.
I'm more concerned with control arm and subframe clearance though, if I have to step down to 8" wide wheels I'm alright with that, and I'm not looking for insane angle, just as much as I can get with some steering arm/stops modifications pretty much.

[Apogee]

It's one thing to say you want to squeeze a 275 under the front of a Nova...kudos to you for wanting to do that. It's another thing though to say you want to do it on a seriously lowered car with a 27.8" tall 275/50R17, as most would run something in the 25" to 26" diameter range.

We've got 245/40R18 mocked up under our shop car right now with 18x8.5 wheels and 5.06" backspacing, and it just rubs on the subframe at full lock. Welded up the stops slightly and it no longer hits. AFAIK, you can't really go wider inward without sacrificing the turn radius, relieving the subframe, going aftermarket, or some combination thereof. The next iteration on ours may see 285's on the front, however it will get flared at the same time.

[NewSpin]

I'm not going to be running the 275/50s up front, only out back. Up front I'm looking at 275/40s
I'm alright with bringing up the ride height a bit too if needed (hopefully not much though... it looks good low haha)
I'm going to fit offset with getting within maybe 1" or less of the subframe, maybe put some reliefs in where needed, then go outward from there. I don't care about sticking outward since I'm going to work the fenders however I need to to fit them. I will have to watch Ackerman and such wheni get there however.
But it could work? If you take the fenders out of the equation, it's not that far fetched?

[slimjim]

A new subframe might not be in the budget, but with the similarities between your nova and a first gen, maybe you could contact speetech for more info on this build.
https://youtu.be/xTE8sAIwJR4

[NewSpin]

Ah yes, I have seen both this car and the Blacktop Rodeo Camaro. Both use Speedtech parts. I doubt I'd be able to afford that stuff without a full sponsorship though unfortunately...