Please report back. There should be a better tool than currently exists to adjust backspacing and mount a tire on. I'm guessing, because laziness, that you have the 94-95 spindle, and so your track-width up front is just a bit wider than stock fox. Like a couple tenths of an inch-ish on each side? Anyways, if you find the optimum 9" wheel BS and offset, I'm all ears. I ended up putting an 8" wheel up front on the black car because I was tired of rubbing and it did seem to resolve that. I think a 9" should be no problem if the BS/offset is right. There are coilovers on my setup, as well.
On "Grover," the blue car, though it's in a shop in Ohio at the moment and so not available for measurement, the 18x9s with the 94-95 spindles were too wide and
@GroverDill used this setup to widen just enough to clear the tire, and I believe he did it with a 255. Thus, I feel a 245 is just about perfect, but I also suspect that if you got the BS/offset just right, it could be done without any special modifications, and could possibly include 255+ width tires:
I dig your new center caps, and they are an improvement, but I have to say... sorry... the tri-bar for me would be the way to go if that's an option. There's something fresh about that red, white, and blue... call me a patriot, I guess.