After some looking around i am finding some bias info. I am wanting to put the newer fender and taillight/brake light setup on my 97. turns are simple enough for me to understand but from what i understand the newer fender is slightly wider.... is this true? i am sure i can heat up the struts a little bit to make them wider... this is assuming it is not a ton wider.

 

I had to cut the crossmember below the seat to spread the fender struts wide enough to fit an 04 & up rear fender on an 03 which is the same frame as yours. Then welded in a piece to take up the gap. When you spread the fender struts they'll no longer be parallel so you need to go wider than you need then pull the ends back together. I abandoned the idea because the upper shock mounts were now angled funky.

 

Here are pics

The width. This fender was from an 08 but is the same for 04 & up.



You can see here the filler tube I welded in where I widened the frame.

 

Sounds like it will be easier to chop up a stock fender to look the same

 

Yeah. They're essentially the same fender besides the width. You can tastefully chop a stock fender no problem. Here's a stock fender on one of mine that's the same width as yours.





I cut just a few inches off of the end then used that piece as a template to draw my cut line.

Same bike with different accessories...

 

Yea I wanted to do something simple since I have to use the stock rear lighting for Japanese inspection. Figured if I had to buy a fender buy a newer already chopped one. But the older ones are still cheap.