I'm definitely not an expert, so take my advice for what it is. Would love to hear an expert opinion.
Answering because you're rules are very strict and similar to my pack rules, so I can share my experience. I would try to have the non dominant front wheel a shade higher. Float it so it turns when you roll the car, but spins when on the ground and you roll it. Basically you are wanting it to roll when you roll the car, but just barely touch. I did this by putting a piece of floral wire under the non dominant front wheel axle. I've also had luck with inserting both wheels, and bend the non dominant front wheel upward a bit till it barely touches, then gluing it in. If you can drill it, that works too. In the past, I've used a drill bit on it's side sitting in the slot to kind of shave off a bit of wood and also used a small file to shave a little of the wood from the slot to make it sit up higher. But go slow and be careful. Don't want to do TOO much. I can imagine drill this would be hard, but you may have an awesome set up and the skill to do this. I couldn't do it. Just play around with it til it float and glue it down so it won't move.
Unless you have an awesome jig, or again, have an awesome set up and the skill to do it, I wouldn't recommend drilling the dominant front wheel. You are going to have to make sure you are exact. I'm not sure the exact angle, someone would know better than me, but you basically want 4 inches of drift over 4 feet, whatever angle gives it to you. A much simpler answer is to bend the angle if allowed. This will make it easy to adjust to the proper drift. I've also had luck finding imperfect bent axles stock, and experimenting with different block to get one crooked enough to drift on it's own! It's possible. But if you can bend the axles, do that, you'll save yourself a lot of time.
Even with canting or bending the axles, I think you should be OK. The small angle you have to achieve isn't going to be significant enough that the wheel won't sit flat. Again, not an expert, so if someone knows different, please chime in. Usually the inspection process is pretty lax and done by volunteers, so even if you don't have them sitting flat, they over look it. If they see anything, most likely they will think its how the wheel is inserted in the axle slot and/or the slot itself. I've seen slots like this! Non are perfectly straight. By no means, am I condoning cheating, you just have to take what you're rules give you. If you can cant the wheels and have them basically flat and touching the ground, I'd say go for it. Almost positive it won't be a problem. Again, you can do this with bending the axles if allowed, which will allow you to control the steer of the rear and keep them off the rail.
I'd also suggesting shaving 1/32 off the front dominant wheel side. It will keep the wheels off the rail and give you less of a chance to lose speed. If you rules day it has to be 1 3/4 wide, simply add it to the other side. Boom,, 1 3/4 car with a shaved dominant wheel side!
Our pack doesn't allow bent axles. Our district does.
In summary, shave 1/32 off dominant side, move it to the other side. Float front non dominant wheel so it is just touching but rolls on a hard surface. Bend the front dominant wheel axle and adjust to drift 4 inches over 4 feet. Bend the back axles and adjust so they won't touch the railing, if you aren't comfortable doing that, straight up and down will probably work with the front shaved. You'll have to check the drift again and most likely adjust since adjusting the back wheels. Additionally, I'd place the Center of Gravity somewhere around .75 inches in front of the axles. Aggressive but not too aggressive for scout cars. Just make sure your axle prep is good and the wheels are decent.
And of course, if you DO have a great jig and/or the skill and tools to do it by drill, by all means, go for it! Either way, I'm sure you will kick names and take butt...or something.
