improving a softtop convertible
 

Hi guys, been a rather non-active member around here for a bit. Today I just agreed to purchase what will be my first car, a 2000 MR2 Spyder!

The fuel economy is already really good, should be a piece of cake to get 35-40mpg, but of course the nerd in me wants to improve stuff. When test driving, the 5th gear was definitely too short, but I looked into a 5th gear swap and it sounds too hard, especially if I want to avoid spending 230 dollars on an OEM gearset:/ Call me a wimp. Since the car is already at 138k miles I figure I might as well just wait for something in the driveline to die and then do something about it. I am considering a Miller cycle 1NZ setup for when it dies, but that's just a fantasy currently. A 6 speed gearbox would be really nice, but they cost too much. Here's to hoping Toyota brings a new 1.5L ish engine with 6 speed gearbox standard to the US someday.

Of course, the next thing to look at is aero. The aero on this car is a complete mess just quickly eyeballing below the car and at the softtop. So of course, as a good nerd should, I am planning out aeromods to do in the future when I have some time. Part of the reason for doing this is also to reduce the noise.

I am requiring myself to make any mods aesthetically pleasing, as the car is such a beauty. Aside from the obvious grill block and belly pan (will require exhaust modification as there is a massive heat shield sticking out under the bumper :\), a few ideas I've thought up of are:
1. Spoiler mounted to softtop window. I think the top storage area has a little bit of excess space to accomodate this, but not sure. Will draw and upload a photo of what I am thinking sometime. As far as construction goes, I am thinking a thin acrylic sheet bent at the appropriate places, aluminum brackets, and held together with silicone glue (clear, durable, easy to apply, not brittle, reasonably high tensile strength) held to both the vinyl bonded to the glass as well as the glass itself, to reduce stress on the glass to vinyl bonding.
2. Trunk (engine cover) mounted "vanes" to reduce trailing vorticies. No idea how to optimize shape, and no idea how to fabricate, but maybe some experimentation will help. Comes much later down the road obviously.
3. Reworked exhaust and side intake ducting. The side ducts could potentially pipe a lot of air straight into the wake, which is great for drag. This is 75% of the reason I was so excited about mid engine. Fake bumper grills will need some material cut away, exhaust outlet can hopefully be moved upwards to the bumper, and ducts carrying the air from the side to the rear can hopefully be added. Engine can pull air from a diverted portion of the duct, and cooling air can be provided through a smaller hole. Stock exhaust will need some cutting and rejoining to make this work.

Any more ideas? :D

Okay got around to drawing it.
http://img576.imageshack.us/img576/4...4023222.th.jpg
http://img862.imageshack.us/img862/9...4023216.th.jpg

How much effect would a window mounted spoiler like that help do you guys think? The length it extends back over the windshield will be limited by how much extra space there is in the softtop storage compartment :/

Could probably use a rear spoiler as drawn in the second image, I got the "curve" pretty wrong but the Spyder has very little length behind the passenger compartment and so the flow off the top probably never reattaches to the body, I'm guessing.

very nice little car.

If you do aq search there is someone w/ areo software that show the affects.

I think you're going to have trouble attaching, detaching and living with the Kammback ("spoiler") unless you want to keep the top up permanently.

Many new convertibles have a vertical mesh fabric sheet behind the headrests that arrests vortexes in the cabin, reducing noise. I've been considering one for the Rabbit but it's not a high priority. Maybe you'd like to pioneer a DIY version?

I studied the way the top folds, and I believe there should be enough space for a permanently attached Kammback spoiler, though there may be space limitations. Nevertheless, I intend to have the top up on any trip that will exceed 35mph, it's just too noisy. There's also the issue of the trunk (engine cover) not being able to open with something sticking out the window, I haven't thought about that though.

I'm not actually a true "roadster guy", I just got the car because I like its lightweight philosophy, and because it's a great driver's car. If I could snag a hardtop one, I would :)

I do need to play with the streamline template to figure out how far behind the car I want a spoiler to extend. I really hope it's not necessary as the stock visibility out the rear is just so good, but the rear end is really quite short which sucks for aero.

One of the biggest problems I think is the airflow off the side of the cabin, I think there are probably pretty strong trailing vortices. Not sure about how to make an aesthetically pleasing solution to address that...

roof/spoiler
 

If you extended the B-pillars,as extended buttresses rearward along the 'Template' profile you could capture a 'tailored' vortex inside there.
You would have a blind spot on the passenger side,but could compensate by using mirrors more.
The 1967 Lotus Europa was kinda like this and had Cd 0.29.

Not concerned about the blind spot right there, I recall it being very difficult to see out the passenger side over the engine cover, with the stock car I need to use the mirrors to see anything on that side anyways.

My concern is retaining the ability to open the engine cover. Ideally the top doesn't need to be stowed to let the engine cover open, so if it's like raining or something and I need to pop the cover, only I get wet, and not the rest of the interior :rolleyes: I think I would be okay if the engine cover would only open if the top were stowed, but I definitely want the top to be fully stowable because it's kinda stupid having a softtop that doesn't go down. With the softtop Kammback extension, it may be possible to have said extended buttresses sitting on the engine cover and still be somewhat effective.

Aesthetically, though, I'm not sure how to make it work...

engine cover
 

Thinking out loud,if the mods were rear-hinged and forward-latched,could you swing the new construction away to the rear,exposing the engine cover for access? A removable pogo stick could support the construction as you service the engine.:rolleyes:

"" Trunk (engine cover) mounted "vanes" to reduce trailing vorticies. No idea how to optimize shape, and no idea how to fabricate, ""

is this what you are talking about?
StolSpeed Aerodynamics - Performance Enhancement for Light Aircraft
http://stolspeed.com/uploads/images/All_VGs_2.jpg

http://www.aircraftspruce.com/cache/...s/05-04457.jpg

^^ no, that's not what I'm thinking.

Perhaps! I hadn't thought of that. Opening the engine cover would be extremely awkward though haha, the construction would have to sit over the passenger compartment and lifting it to that position may be difficult depending on how much it weighs. Hinges might need to be pretty strong to not twist.

Took her home today:
http://img41.imageshack.us/img41/616...0825202317.jpg
http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/860...0825202749.jpg

Studied the softtop compartment a little more carefully. I think a solid structure is definitely not going to fit, but I think a spoiler that can fold would work. More difficult to construct obviously :/

Okay after thinking about this some more, I think this is the only viable way to do it. If the freaking engine cover opened the other way like a Koenigsegg...haha not gonna happen.

I'm not sure my fabrication skills are good enough for this, but I guess it's worth a shot? I'd like to do "flying buttress" pillars with "roof spoiler", hinged at the end of the trunk. Sorta a "fastback" top that goes over the back of the original.

skills
 

There's no better way to learn than just jump in and begin.Cardboard and masking tape can render full-scale mockups pretty quick, to allow you to 'visit' with your creation.Your sub-conscious mind will grind away as you sleep,working to solve issues.Don't be surprised if you wake up out of a dead sleep at weird hours with 'solutions.' It's a hoot!;)

Aside from my 3/5 Metro, I also own a 2000 MR2 Spyder.

When the transaxle pinion bearing noise got real bad (common problem with them), I swapped out my old 5th gear for a new taller one out of a Corrolla (I have the part numbers around here somewhere). I haven't done it, but it looks like you could do the gear swap with the trans still in the car. Otherwise, it's a 10hr job for a non-pro like myself, floor jack and stands, to R&R the trans. Removing the front cover and the gear swap itself is straight forward. RPM's in 5th dropped by about 500rpm, perfect for freeway cruising. My fuel economy improved by about 4 mpg on long Interstate trips as a result.

Unfortunately, those early 3rd generation Spyders are notorious for their rings wearing out prematurely, and burning oil. (Check Spyderchat.com if you haven't found it already).

Far outweighing aero improvements, this will be your biggest challenge toward FE improvements, as burning oil causes engine knock, which sends the ECU into ignition timing retard mode, lowering both power and FE. A bandaid for this, is to use Premium fuel.... ask me how I know ;) I now have an oil separator in line with an aftermarket, CARB approved, high-flow PCV valve that works to combat this issue. After a couple of close calls with low oil level, I installed a Moroso extra capacity oil pan, reducing my chances of accidentally running it out of oil (I drive 700/week). I'm back to burning regular 87 octane fuel since adding the separator. It's been a good strategy so far, I now have 200k mile on the odometer.

Anyhow, the 'behind the seat' factory flip-up wind deflector does work, I have seen people replace the factory plasic with a taller one, that reportedly reduce wind noise (my gal doesn't like her hair wind blown, so I'm considering this option as well)

As you probably already know, factory hard tops were available in Europe for these cars. There is a guy that imports used ones to the states for about $2600 incl/freight. That would be a great foundation from which to start modding the 'greenhouse'.

If you are really serious about FE, I'd reduce rolling resistance. Consider dumping the wide performance tires, opting for a different rim, narrower, with LRR tires, and reduce the rear positive camber. You can disconnect the electric power steering easily enough. Unless you are a girl, manual steering effort is not bad at all, even at low parking lot speeds.

metromizer, thanks for the advice.
I did register at spyderchat.com and make a post :D

They all tell me to gut the precats, because they're notorious for blowing, and then sending ceramic dust into the engine which destroys the cylinder bore.

I expect to be putting at most 1500 miles a year on the car, at least for now, so the gear swap isn't so economically sound. What's that, 45 gallons of gas vs. 40 with the swap? I know I could go to a junkyard and find a M/T Corolla, but I think pulling the transmission would be a nontrivial task...it's just more time than it's worth.
LittleRocket wrote that you can undo 3 of the bolts so that the transmission drops down and hangs by the last one or something, and gives you access to the cover, but that doesn't solve the issue of needing a custom modified gear puller, and the fact that I have never worked with this stuff before. I don't have much time anyways, busy with school :/

Don't get me wrong, the 5th gear certainly bothers the hell out of me! When I drove it home the first time, I never went over 70mph and generally stayed at about 60mph because the engine was making such a racket spinning 3500rpm.

What I really want is a 6 speed, but those are quite expensive. 5th gear is perfect for 25-35mph streets where you can barely avoid bogging the engine. Anything higher a 6th gear would be really nice.

My "master plan" is to give this thing a built high rev Miller cycle 1NZ with an Eaton TVS charger. It would be a f***ton of work and not be any faster than a 2ZZ but it would make the nerd in my extremely happy. The day that happens I'll bring a 6 speed gearbox over. Or maybe Toyota can stop being cheap and bring a newer engine with 6 speed gearbox over to the US.

Oh and of course, I'm going to buy an OBDII scanner sometime so I can monitor fuel economy with my phone :D

And regarding the steering, yes I am aware that it's not hard to steer. I moved the car around on a slanted driveway without turning the ignition on, and it was not difficult at all, even when the car was not moving at all. When the ignition is on, the steering effort reduces but there wasn't much effort needed in the first place, so I'm not that concerned about the steering pump power consumption. The steering feels rubbery when the assist is fully off, which I don't like...I may try giving the motor some PWM regulation to give the steering a stiffer feel.

if you do, be sure to have your Big-Boy Pants on... that place can get a little rough... particularly if you think even slightly outside the box, are new, and young.

I read that as well. I pulled my exhaust manifold off 6 months after getting my Spyder, at 130kmiles. Surprisingly the honeycomb was 100% perfect and in tact, but I chipped it out per the advice. It was burning some oil at the time, and has only gotten worse with wear. In my case, the pre-cats had no effect on my engine wear. But even with that, it still passes a SF Bay Area rolling dyno emissions test. For now at least.

I agree. Good luck!

Researched an aero-cleaner, quieter & improved music listening ~ hardtop route? http://www.spydermagazine.com/2001/F..._Hardtop_4.JPG

Try 2500-3000 dollars. I'd like to save that for a new engine or something :P
To be honest, it's not actually that noisy, just an annoying whistling sound above 50mph, and it's not any worse than the A pillar whistling some fixed roof cars have. I don't listen to music :P

The aero also isn't improved much, the only improvements are the very slightly bigger radius on the curve of the rear in some portions, and the smoother top (no metal hoop profile poking out). The dimensions and shape are nearly identical.

You have a nice car serial, and for the miles you plan to put on it, will be difficult to recoup any eco/aero improvement costs.

I'd simply install a chin spoiler perhaps made of conveyor belt material and be done with it.

Driving with the top down is one of the best things about these cars, enjoy it "as is".

[QUOTE=serialk11r;324726]Try 2500-3000 dollars. I'd like to save that for a new engine or something :P

@ least they halved the price.
2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 Toyota MR2 Spyder ViS Racing Hardtop

Nah the point of aeromods is to slightly cut down on the wind noise and to satisfy the wannabe engineer in me. Aeromods are cheap and fun, engine mods are expensive and fun. Without a taller cruising gear I wouldn't drive too fast anyways, the engine gets really loud.

"No hardware" sounds sorta bad when you look at the next option, and it explicitly says "with lexan rear window and seals"...I think seals are pretty important.

Oh yea by the way, I've already done an "aeromod"; Since the previous owner didn't have a front license plate bracket (said he has been driving 32 years without front plates, never ticketed...), I taped the license plate to the black plastic surrounding the front grille. Partial grille block! Covers about 1/3 of the area, ideally should have fairings but oh well.

Uh, couldn't find said user, link?

Currently the car has a fat heat shield covering something (haven't looked carefully, probably the muffler) that sticks right out under the rear bumper. Talk about bad aero. What I'd like is a muffler that fits within the engine bay and exhaust that leaves through the bumper, but this will take a lot of cutting to achieve.

Well, quick little update (not really an update though).
School's FSAE team has a ton of medium? density foam sitting around that they don't want apparently, because they bought many, many tons of high density foam which is better for making moulds :O
Next time I go home, I'll be sure to swipe some of that, should be good for making temporary/experimental stuff.

Super short on time though this semester :/ Soonest forseeable time that I can work on the car is winter break, and that might not even work :( I do need to buy a jack and stands sometime so I can take a peek under the car. There's this floppy plastic shield sitting under the muffler for some reason, and I've been itching to get rid of it if its function isn't critical.

On the positive side, I have my Bluetooth OBDII reader coming in the mail very soon, will be able to track instantaneous and short term gas mileage soon. I've gone a bit over 100 miles on the tank and it looks to be a bit over 1/3 used up, seems like about 25mpg. Pretty bad, but half the miles were driven in hilly Berkeley infested with evil stop signs on a totally cold engine that never warmed up, much of it wasted on parking in tight spots, and half the remaining miles were driven in stop and go SF traffic. Guess I need to kill that engine more often.

Anyways back to aero, hopefully I'll have some free time some weekend to carve those foam blocks and stick them on my car. Thankfully that top isn't very tall so I'm hoping it won't be that difficult. I may want to buy a scroll saw, we'll see how the hacksaw does.

Okay, I put tufts on it today, attempted to videotape but I couldn't figure out how to hold the camera still for my life (besides it's not safe to be staring at my phone while driving) so I will enlist some help tomorrow if it's not raining.
http://imageshack.us/a/img819/5885/i...6170435.th.jpg
The placement of the tufts was done in a manner that would allow me to see the ones on the side through the side mirror and the ones on the rear bumper through the rear window (but not the rearview mirror). I know there is a giant bubble of separated air on the back so there's no point in putting tufts there.

I did go for a little drive and noticed a handful of things.
First of all, I placed one yarn tuft near the top of the side scoop, and it seemed to be flapping in the wind, so perhaps the intake isn't super aerodynamically clean. Oh well, nothing I can do about that.

Second was that the tufts along the side of the car at the end were all wrapping towards the center of the car, and the tufts on the softtop were wrapping steeply upward along the surface of the top. I'm guessing there is a big vortex that's doing that.

How about strapping/stretching on another fabric top. Keep the flying buttress profile, covered or uncovered rear w/ a clear PVC panel. There are MR2 rear lip spoilers that where the fabric could 'bed-corner' on. Just doodling out loud.

http://i.imgur.com/1W3rX.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/Azq6c.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/UM5PS.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/cDb0g.jpg

Hmmm...I thought of this but dismissed it because I thought it would involve attaching cloth to the softtop permanently, but I suppose I could stretch the cloth over the entire top :O Thanks for the photoshopped images haha. You got me curious, I need to think about this some more and examine the top to see if this would be possible. It might even get quieter in the cabin just from the extra layer of fabric! :D

I think the end of the engine bay cover might be a good place to secure the fabric, as that would allow the engine cover to open as usual.

I got a video of the rear today, and I think I won't post it because it's not really interesting. The tufts at the edges of the recessed area on the engine cover were flapping around, the tufts along the rear edge of the car were just "straight" (since they fall below the template line, I imagine this is the area where the air is not recirculating, but is moving slightly slower than the free stream). Good food for thought for spoiler design...

Hmmm I examined the top today to try and figure out how cloth could possibly work. The only places I can attach the cloth are to the metal brackets as the top's own fabric is not attached at many locations and will be pulled out of place. The only attachment point on the body that I can see working (must be fully reversible for resale value) is the trunk lid (engine cover). Probably something like loosen up one of the bolts, slip a bracket under it, and then attach the fabric to that.

My main concern is the location where the fabric attaches to the soft top brackets. The only location I can see working would have the fabric wrapping around the weather seal, and I feel like this could cause some problems. At the very least it should be taped to reduce wear via abrasion, but I wonder if being squeezed by the fabric would cause the rubber to deteriorate quicker...

By the way, what fabric should I use, and would a tailor have it in stock?

Well, I went to OSH and checked out their selection of double sided tape and...well, Scotch's "5 pound" (they have a 20 pound) double side tape is apparently strong enough to resist prying with a flathead screwdriver, except it is also essentially non-removable. I don't think I want to mess with the fabric anymore. I thought about attaching something to the rear window, but there's no way I can fit something big enough and have the top still fold.

I guess I'll just give it a spoiler, then modify the rear belly pan (and do wheel fairings if I still have time) and then not bother with it anymore. Somewhere down the road if I see an exceptionally good deal on lowering springs I might grab some, most kits lower the rear less than the front, so that should help with the softtop's sucky shape by giving the car some "rake".

It will sure be hard to get over the ugly 27 degree angle on the top though :(

Started working on the bottom today by taking off the stock rear engine diaper. After I took it off I realized why they did what they did; The main cat hangs VERY low!

The attachment points on the rear bumper for the diaper are much too high, the flow there would be separated even if I covered it with something smooth.

I think I will grab some coroplast, protect it from the cat's heat with aluminum foil, and then use some long bolts and nuts to let it sit lower than the stock piece. I might consider reinforcing it with some Bondo Hair. The idea is air from the engine compartment can escape from above the coroplast, and air from under the car can escape underneath without separation.
http://img829.imageshack.us/img829/4...ffuseridea.jpg
(excuse this gentleman's ridiculous bodykit and fake diffuser, my exhaust also happens to be on the other side in the same location). I will check with sign shops and TAP plastics to see if they have some suitable scrap material tomorrow.

I'm starting to give up on finding sandable polystyrene foam in a small piece, what do you guys think about using wood+spray foam for the spoiler? It'll be harder to work than foam and might have issues with expansion with humidity changes. Foam would also be much easier to work with for rear wheel fairings.

Okay it's been 9 months and I haven't really touched my car, but I just bought someone's intake camshaft to do a regrind on (Atkinson!), and I'm giving aero serious consideration again. Among the other planned mods are new muffler primarily for a more satisfying sound, and slight ride height reduction with taller rear tire to gear the car down a bit and give it some rake.

Last month I did go grab some stainless steel screws and finally made a permanent mount for my front license plate, that conveniently blocks 1/3 of the grill. I'll show you guys pictures after I figure out what to block off another 1/3 with, this car barely ever gets warm.

Last winter I took off the engine diaper (that the previous owner paid 500 dollars to replace -_-), and the cat has just been hanging out there. I think I'm just going to grab a piece of sheet aluminum for 30 bucks or what not and toss it under there. Still need to figure out what to do with the wheel fairings though, I think the conveyor belt material someone suggested is out of the question as there isn't really a place to put it. Maybe I'll extend the diffuser with some "U" channels, but I don't know how effective that'll be.

I also was checking out spoilers since I decided it wasn't a good use of time to make one from scratch, there is this nice Honda S2000 ABS spoiler for 60 bucks that I should be able to cut 2 inches off (too wide) and then sand a little to produce a nice little spoiler that almost hits the template that at the same time looks fantastic (it's got that nice curve to it). Gonna order it when I stop being lazy.

Long term I'd like to do a lot more to this car but those mods and maybe some chassis bracing should do nicely.

Will you be taking the 2-inches out of the middle to retain the end arc?

One inch off either end. The distance between my taillights is around 38 inches or something, and the S2000 spoilers are 40 inches wide apparently. I think it's better this way because the spoiler ends up higher and that's kind of what this car needs, though it's fractions of an inch either way. The more important reason is because it's easier to make :P

Another idea is to raise the spoiler half an inch with some mini supports and then cut off only 0.5 inches from each end as it'll clear the taillights, but I think that might look odd.

tufts
 

The air blowing the tufts is seeking a lower pressure in an attempt to achieve equilibrium,or actually caught inside some circulation (vorticity) induced by separation.

The tufts were at an almost right angle to the axis of the car, which makes me believe it's coming from vorticity. If the air were seeking a lower pressure region, it would not be able to have so much velocity in that direction at equilibrium. Looking at the paint, the typical "swirl" scratch marks don't exist in that area; the scratches are all at a 70-80 degree angle going inwards towards the engine compartment.

vorticity
 

It makes perfect sense.
There are some photos of the Kamm/K-Fachsenfeld FKFS wind tunnel models which had square body edges down the length of the body.
In the photos you can see the tufts all sticking up into the air,held by the attached longitudinal vortices circulating at these edges.
Their measurements showed that rounding off the intersection cut drag a little over 16%.About Cd 0.174 vs 0.21.
Charles Lindbergh's Spirit of St.Louis suffered from this vorticity.
Ditto for the 1944 WACO CG-4A assault glider.

Okay thread revive! I've finally decided I'm switching my FR-S for an MR2 Spyder. I don't use the FR-S much, and so it's sitting there depreciating to the tune of 2k a year without being much fun to drive, so I figured I might as well have a more fun toy that's also cheaper. For less than half the price, an MR-S with 2ZZ would be faster, far more exciting, and much cheaper to own.

Since the FR-S has incredibly low drag and a much newer engine, I'm probably going to see a decrease in highway mpg, while the 500 pound weight reduction will get me some more city mpg. There's a 2ZZ car I'm going to look at but if it doesn't work out I'll get a higher mileage 1ZZ car and swap the engine.

I've talked to the Thai guy who makes the Lambo lookalike kits and he can do the hardtop (advertised at $1833, not bad), but communication is slow and I'm ironing out details but I think it'll work out. Profile is similar to the stock top, but I was surprised by how much I like the looks of an OEM top with a smaller rear window.

The downside of that top is that I may need to cut my own rear window into the back, and I have to pull the front fenders to bolt it on (it wraps over the windshield frame).

So to start I'll be getting that and a spoiler from the same place, hopefully bringing the Cd down from I'm guessing 0.34 ish (a lowered car) to maybe like 0.31 (if it actually knocks 10% of the drag off, that would be amazing), while decreasing lift.

The next aero things that I think would be reasonably easy and cheap to do would be:
-Radiator intake (large sheet of rubber curled up to shrink the duct opening?)
-Rear diffuser (bolt an aluminum sheet on...should be easy enough?)

Things I am not so sure about:
-Radiator exhaust (not confident I can shape it correctly to get any gains)
-Passenger side intake block (the curved shape is probably hard to make...)
-Racing mirrors (the base that bolts onto the door may be hard to fabricate...how hard is it to learn 3d printing software?)

I probably need to buy some stuff to make getting under the car easier, there are a few places where a coroplast sheet would probably do a lot of good.

Pictures?

https://scontent-ord1-1.xx.fbcdn.net...7e&oe=585B1050

But without the silly fake scoop.

So turns out that Thai hardtop doesn't have seals...because it goes OVER the stock soft top. The stock soft top frame is quite heavy and would be something I'd rather get rid of, so back to the drawing board.

Have a car lined up, still waiting on confirmation from seller. I am considering leaving the soft top alone for a while since a hard top is such a large expense, probably a good idea to focus on first getting the underbody and rear spoiler done.

While I was not really a fan of the warm air intake mod, I realized that on this car all I have to do is tape off the driver's side intake and the engine intake will start sucking hot air from the engine bay due to the intake's placement. Easy gain for a longer journey on the freeway.

I wonder if you could take off the convertible frame/seals and just use some standard automotive seals from your local NAPA store as the interface between the hard shell top and windscreen frame/body/side glass.

Weather proof 3M double stick tape perhaps could be used.

I mention NAPA because our local store seems to carry the stuff (basic stuff) other stores do not. I'm sure if you need some exotic profile you could find something on-line or special order it.

Hmmm...that's a good suggestion, although it makes me kind of nervous. I think people have DIYed weatherstripping like that on this car before for other hardtops that didn't come with it.

The car I was looking at has a nice new soft top which I feel bad about throwing away, if I get that one I might just ditch the hardtop plan. The Honda "baby NSX"/"export S660" rumors came back again, so maybe I'll be switching to that car afterall...