Steve,
They are not the same. The issue is the crank bearing change. In '01 or '02 (I think '02 but not sure which year off hand) they went to an ignition side roller and smaller primary side bearing, so the case bearing bores are different. Not sure if the cranks (journal dia.) are different, we would have to dig back in the older parts book (unfortunately not on-line). I know the '00 is different for sure, as I had and '00 and have an '03. You could always use the cases but you would have to use the matching crank IF it is different. So, from what I know the '03 cases are good for '02 through '04, and probably through '06.