yeah the internals of the two lights are different, and the lens is also glass on the 97+, whereas the previous ones were plastic. the filament is different because the 94-96 used h4 dual filament bulbs, and the 97+ used h7 single filament bulbs for the low beam and high beam. the high beam and upper fog light are located on totally different parts of the headlight between the two different versions.
i have a perfect set of '96 headlights sitting the the box that i will sell you if you are interested in having matching headlights on both sides. im sure you know how expensive they are to buy new. email me if youre interested: afourgasm@hotmail.com