Oh well... it's done now.

I ended up not being able to use the hotend anyway because I broke the thermistor on reassembly. They're cheap but I already had my e3d v6 on hand...

Why didn't you lock two nuts together and put those in the vice...?

And how was I going to get those nuts on the barrel without first taking the peek or the heat block off ??

I like your repurposing by the way. Glad it works for you!

didnt think stock SD hot ends could be taken apart without ruining them as they are embedded in a non metal compound that can melt out if temp exceeds like 230c plus threads are pinched or something making them strip easy if nozzle is unscrewed most times

The problem with the SD  hot end is that he heater barrel they used doesn't have a HEX middle section where you can use a wrench on it, it's threaded all they way, so I had to just clamp a vise-grip on it between the peek and the heat block, then unscrew the peek and the heat block off that way.

At the time I had it all apart, I could have replaced the barrel with a proper one (they go for about $9 on eBay), but since the heater block, and the peek screw in from opposite end, and never go through the area where the threads got distorted by the vice-grips, I never did.  besides, the threads didn't get too trashed.

As far as the non-metal compound you speak of, I don't know what you're referring to. If you're thinking of the cement that holds the heating resistor in place, well, that went a way a long time ago when I replaced the resistor with the cartridge.

The only problem with the Solidoodle version is the heat block they use. 

It's poorly made, smaller than what it should be, the heather cartridge hole is too large, it has no hole for the thermistor, and no tapped holes for set screws.  To make things worse, the tapped hole the heater tube taps into isn't even perpendicular to the block, which prevents the nozzle from sitting flush on the face of the block.  Since there's no hole for the thermistor, they attach the thermistor to the side of the nozzle with Kapton tape.

So from my point of view, short of replacing the entire hot end with a E3D or J-Head or whatever, you can make a couple of inexpensive mods to the exiting one and I think it might help you change your mind about it.

1.  Get a replacement heater block.  I got a couple of them for about $5 on eBay and replaced the Soliddole with it.  You won't need to use fiberglass insulation or wrap the hot end in Kapton.
2.  Buy a heater cartridge and get rid of the resistor.  It's a lot faster heating up and more reliable.
3.  You can reuse original thermistor, so you won't need to make any changes to the firmware.

I only wrapped the wiring together so the heater bundle holds the thermistor inside the cartridge.  I bought the heater block from here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-x-Aluminium-H … 5b0c2029d4

If you have the cash, do yourself a favor and pick one up at filastruder.com and don't think...just do it. And like wardjr said, save up if you have to.