Lowered Nova front tire clearance

[BBC71Nova]

Today after getting all the front suspension and such mocked up I ran my wheel and tire combo through the suspension travel to check clearances. You guessed it... I think I have some major issues.

The wheels are VWW 17" X 8" w/ 4 7/8" BS. Tires are 235/45-17. Front end is pretty low. Running the Ridetech tall drop spindles. Frontend is mocked up as if the QA1 ProCoil conversion shock was dead in the center of travel. This puts the crossmember at ~5" off the ground. Also have 1/4" of spacers in the upper control arm to get some amount of negative camber.

At this ride height I can move the tire left/right max amount and have no fender clearance issues. Note: inner fenders are not yet installed so that might eventually be an issue.

If I put the front LCA on the bumpstops I can hardly turn the wheel before the tire gets into the fenders. The front wheel hits the fender while turning right when there is 3" before the inner tire hits the subframe. Since I can't install tie-rods due to another problem I really have no way of knowing how far to simulate a turn before it would be on the limiters.

Here are some pics.




I didn't expect clearance issues with the front given the relatively small wheel and tire combo I went with. There are other 3rd gen Novas running similar backspace that are even lower. So I'm not sure what the issue here is. Doesn't look like there is an easy or cheap fix that I can see.

I dropped a plumb-bob down from the fender edge at the spindle centerline and the upper rim edge is 1 7/8" inset at rideheight. Do you other Nova guys have similar measurement? Wondering if my track width is wider somehow? Maybe my brake pkg?

Thanks!