Please see this recent discussion for some strategies that you may be able to adapt for your case.
Another possible procedure:
- use
write_dumpto write out unwrapped coordinates - use set command to set all image flags to 0
- use change_box to change your box dimensions
- use
read_dumpwithbox noto read back the coordinates, but retain the enlarged box - use
reset_atoms imageto reset image flags for the dump data while keeping molecules intact - use
write_datato write out the updated system as data file