I found a nearby cheap AE92 Hatch which seems a bit too good to miss, looks like it has been taken care of to a certain degree, recently unregistered, and sub $500 price. Hoping it has better condition body than my old freebie ae92 rusted out windscreen sill example.

 

Just wanted to ask, what signs do you look for in order to spot if the windscreen is still factory original or has been replaced ? I know if the rubber seal easily lifts from the body and you check underneath thats a very bad sign to start with. but yeah I get the impression with factory seals they seem to be poor anyways.

 

Edit - I think I figured it out. 3 piece mould where it has the silver "L" trim in the upper corners is likely to be factory standard. My Freebie AE92 had a 1 piece mould so obviously was scratched up bad and never painted underneath so in theory this new AE92 on the agenda should have less rust hopefully just a little bit on the pillar sill just underneath the corner. My freebie corolla has alot of tiny holes in the start of the roof skin all along the top of the windscreen sill

Edited June 14, 201313 yr by darkage

All my windows have GT14A93..... Serial numbered ;) Am thinking if not... non original perhaps. Not qualified to answer.

Edit - I think I figured it out. 3 piece mould where it has the silver "L" trim in the upper corners is likely to be factory standard.

 

My new shell had the silver L trim's in the corner and had an o-brien's sticker on the windscreen. Would be fairly rare to find a car that old that does still have an original windscreen. You'd be able to tell, because if it was original the sandblasting and wiper blades over it for 20yrs would make it pretty crappy to see thru.

Look for the Pilkington ACI insignia around the windscreen. Usually it's around the bottom in the centre. That is where it's located on the windscreen on my ke70... It's never been changed!

 

These 3 piece trims around the windscreen are rubbish, pure rubbish. If you are getting a new windscreen the glazier can install a nice rubber seal, one piece which is contoured to the roof profile. I had that fitted on my daily driver ae92 when my small bubbles were welded up nearly two years back.

 

Problem is, these trims are designed to catch the water when the wiper sweeps across whilst driving and prevent it from running down the side windows. In theory it's supposed to drin off, but with 20 years of crud built up it will obviously accumilate and rust.

 

After the proper repairs were done in the window recess and the window to be installed, the glazier applied heaps of that black silastic and placed the window in for that tight finish. I saw it done and its held up, no leaks rust or worries.

 

 

Cool thanks all for the input! saw the cheap ae92 where the owner said didnt have rust around the windscreen. ha! it had rust! just like every other ae92 out there. .. I did get myself a MIG welder on the weekend so now onto practising overlapping spotwelding on scrap thin sheet metal :) and finish off grinding the rest of the rust off..

Edited June 17, 201313 yr by darkage