Best LED for 3xAA Maglite?

I have an old 4D (I think) Maglite that I want to cut down and re-thread to be a 1D so I can use it with 3xAA in a custom adapter.

The AAs I have are rechargeable Energizer NiMh, not sure how much I should try to pull from the cells though so I don't know if I should go with an XP-G or an XM-L, or something else if there's a recommendation.

Trying to keep this cheap, so let's see how far I can get. Need to find some place to machine the maglite or something.

Make sure you get the machine work done before you buy the electronics, you may find it hard to get it done or very expensive.

You could do an XM-L, similar to what I did here (but with 3 instead of 6 AAs)
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?319319-2D-mag-modded-to-6AA-XM-L
I'd recommend a better battery holder than I used if it is going to carry 2.8 amps (since mine were only doing 1.4 amps each and were modified).

You could do basically the same as above but to use a 1.4 amp driver with an XP-G. At your option you could then use a high CRI emitter. You might get away with the cheap battery hold with a light modification at only 1.4 amps.

Something I had thought would be neat would be to try to direct drive an sst-90 with 3 AAs. But you wouldn't have a low mode and would only have 10 or less min of run time before the batteries were dead, it would also be hard on the batteries and might cause them premature aging. If your cells are old or low-end then it might be more than they can put up with and might kill them off after a few uses. But 2200 lumens out of a 3xAA light would be pretty neat, maybe an a lense to make it good at throwing to the point of being silly.

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?79302-NiMh-Battery-Shoot-Out
has info about AA cells and how well they keep their voltage up relative to current pulled out of them, note there are more than one kind of energizer tested there.

I think it would be easier to go with an XPG: less heat, less current, less cost.

I'll probably ask in the Machining sub-forum to see if I can get a quote from someone if they were to do the cutting.

Has anyone tried the reflector/heatsink combos that fit maglites from DX? It seems like that would be much easier than trying to but a new reflector and heatsink separately, but I wonder how well they'd work with an XP-G. It's either that or I go for the traditional heatsink.

If this ends up costing too much I'll just go with a Jetbeam BA10 though...