So I am looking for a pre '89 AK?
If you are looking for an AK that has as many foreign parts on it as possible, yes. And it must be an AK that has never had any parts swapped off of it for repair or for Fudding it up. Because if it did get replacement parts, and the "builder" cared about 922r, it 'should' have been made compliant.
This kind of rifle will have a foreign receiver. It will also have foreign handguards/buttstocks and a foreign trigger group. American parts usually have a "US" stamp on them or look like f'ing crap on the rifle (think WASR buttstock/handguard). Check the barrel- does it have proofing stamps? Does the pistol grip have mold numbers or is it wood and match the foreign buttstock and handguard? Proofing marks and mold numbers are good signs it's foreign. Arsenal of the US has "fake" mold numbers for a bunch of their pistol grips, though. An exception to say the least.
This is not to say that you can find a more recent rifle that has foreign parts on it. Some people ignore(d) 922r when they built rifles. Homebuilders do this more often than big mfg names. But some companies ignored it, and got busted for it. TGI is one of those companies.
So if you find an AK with more foreign parts on it than it should, you should be able to buy it and not be in any trouble because you didn't make it.
But if you want an AK with a foreign receiver- go for the pre 1989 rifle. Or get a post '89 Saiga, SAR, Maadi, SLR, or Arsenal rifle- they all are built on foreign receivers. They just have other parts that are US in origin, like their stock sets, trigger groups, pistol grips, or gas pistons.