Stan, you answered your own question! It's time and money. Also, the pre-wired SMT LED doesn't shine out like the molded LED's, it shines to one side. Sometimes that works, and sometimes it doesn't. You also have to find the proper 2mm hollow rod and a lens that does the job. Of course, unless the LED shines up to the lens, the lens isn't doing much...
I'm not ready to give up the fight to find a suitable replacement that I don't have to build. I also scored a bunch of the ceramic LED's before the stream ran totally dry. I'll deal with the replacement when I run out of them.