Best tire/wheel combo for MODIFIED chally?

[gomopar440]

I've seen a bunch of posts here for "What's the biggest tire/wheel that will fit w/o modifications?" but nothing really for WITH modifications. I have tried (unsuccessfully) to look for the answers first using the search functions so I'll go ahead and ask.

First let me give some details on my car. It's a '72 Challenger 318/904/8.75 with a complete fiberglass front end for weight. I'm building a 512/727/8.75 for later so I'm anticipating needing MUCH wider tires than the stock configuration will allow. It will be a street driven car that I may try some autocross or SCCA solo type racing with. Obviously drag race setups won't work for this car. I want to fit as much rubber under the car as possible.

In the front everything is stock at the moment with original disk brakes and sway bay. What would be the widest tire/wheel size with a 17" rim? What can be changed to allow wider tires/wheels? Tubular upper arms? Rack & pinion conversion? Alterkation?

Out back I've started mini-tubbing the car. I've figured out that I can move the inner wheel house 1.5" towards the frame rail at best since the rail doesn't go straight back. I also still need to install the 3" spring relocation kit, XHD springs and KYB shocks I just got from Mancini. A rear sway bar soultion is in the works with Firm Feel that will keep the sway bar mounts inboard of the frame rails since the 3" relo kit will make a stock rear bar impossible to set up. And maybe the bonus part (or not, we'll see next week if it's possible), since I'm in the process of replacing both full quarter panels, I'm going to try to reweld them back in with the wheel arches pulled out 1" wider than stock. With all these mods I should get a minimum of 2.5" maybe even 3" extra clearance depending on how wide I leave the wheel arch lip on the quarters. The wheels again are planned to be 17" to allow for better tire selection.

Comments? Ideas? Let's hear 'em

[EVIL72]

 The XV cars are trick I just saw a TV show about them and these things handle like crazy! They have all the info here  http://www.xvmotorsports.com/cars/index.cfm
 Do you have the block yet? If you have to go with a big block I'd use a 400 block with aluminum heads instead of a 440 it will save ya a a bit more weight on the front end, and with a big block you need all the help you can get if you want to roadrace it.
 If you don't have a block why not get a 340 or 360 and stroke it to just over 400+ cubes? It will be alot lighter than a big block and handle alot better when you go roadracing, yet still crank out some serious HP.
 Why not put a 68-70 B body rearend in it with the offset shackles instead of the 3" relocation kit? That will still give ya a little more room and it's a total bolt up mod.
 I thought the 3" relocation kit on an E body was a waste of time because of the angles frame rails??
 Good luck with it it sounds like it's going to be a very trick Challenger, oh ya I almost forgot   
 

[gomopar440]

EVil72,
Yea, I already saw the XV cars on the internet and then again on that tv show afterwards. I've already got some ideas on how to get the chally to handle, some of which are pretty close to the way they're doing their XV's. I would rather build this from the groung up than just buying a full suspension setup. It's cheaper that way and I like the challenge of it (pun intended ). 

The engine is already mostly built. I have to finish a few more details before I can button it up completely. For now the 318 is being brought back to life to motorvate it around for a while until the other engine can be finished properly. On the big engine I'm using a '75 440 block, a 440Source 512 stroker kit, + .055 Ross pistons, CNC Max Wedge ported aluminum 440-SR Indy heads, Max Wedge ported aluminum 440-2 single plane Indy intake, 509SW cam from Indy (Comp I think?), 1.6 ratio stainless roller rockers from 440Source, 850 Mighty Demon carb, ceramic coated TTI 2" step headers, MSD billet dist, MSD 6AL, mini starter, mini alternator, CSR Proflo aluminum waterpump housing (stock looking, not billet) and a CSR electric water pump. I'm sure there's more but I can't think of any thing else at the moment. I ran it through my Desktop Dyno and got around 653hp@5500 and 663ft/lb@4000 (over 600ft/lb between 2500 to 5500RPM ). As everyone knows though, sim numbers are just that, simulated. So your results may vary. 

As for parts hunting like looking for a B-Body rear, That's not very easy for me to do. I'm in the Navy and am currently stationed  in Puerto Rico. Whenever I want to work on the car I have to buy a plane ticket and fly back to PA. So for the sake of my budget I 'm trying to reuse what I can on the car. As long as the 8.75 that's in there works (it's a Sure Grip unit BTW), it's staying. Anything I need to replace gets bought online and shipped straight to PA. I don't even want to know how much I've really spent on shipping for everything so far .

It anyone's interested, here's the link to the thread on Moparnuts where I post all my updates and progress.  http://www.moparnuts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3636