I use everything that came with SP screen including the front light. Everything.
Yes, I use the screen w/o the SP glass. I was just testing the SP screen in that picture to see if the screen will work in the GBA motherboard.
It closes. It's a tight fit but it will closes. You have to grind down the front shell like you do for the back lit AGS101 screen. If you look up the tutorial on youtube for the GBA back lit mod, they tell you to grind down the front shell casing so that it'll fit the screen better. Thats how I did with the AGS001 front screen and front light. Same thing as you would when modding a AGS101 back lit into a GBA.
Here's a picture I just took of mine:
As you can see, I have the GBASP AGS001 LCD screen and the front light all together stuffed into my original GBA console. It'll fit if you grind down the ridges on the inside of the front shell casing to make more room.