Just gonna toss in my experiences...Chuck, the rod does have bushings at both ends. My Alpha engine came out of our club trainer, and didn't always have a balanced prop on it. I replaced the bearings because I couldn't stand the noise any longer. It made clunking noises when you flipped the prop, and when hot it sounded awful! Anyway, even though the rear bearing was total poop, the rod still measured o.k. as far as out of round, or excessive clearance. (but I changed it anyway along w/ the wrist pin while I had it apart because the bottom of the big end had rubbed the inside of the case)
FYI, that sucker turns a 12x4 APC @14,100 w/ a Tower-Aquacraft muffler burning 10% Powermaster (the sleeve mods I did helped a bit too )
I think it's a pretty good engine when you get rid of the stock ( cork [:'(] ) muffler.