Thanks again everybody for the ideas...I'm heading out to the shop to investigate.

Pe....I did have a prop strike. I have a 5" spinner on the airplane, and when I observe it on the ground running, it appears to be running very true. I know this is probably not a good indicator for a small misalignment. I'll take a crack at disassembling the engine again. I tried once before but the steel liner wouldn't budge out of the case. Ended up cutting a couple of glow plug washers in two trying to lift it out. I'll try to soak some penetrating oil in there, or maybe heat the case some. Once I do that, I'm hoping the crank will slide back through the case, or is that a press fit that will need some mechanical force? Getting new bearings shouldn't be hard, I'm just wondering if I have what I need to get the old ones out and the new ones in.

I did notice that the piston will rotate a small amount back and forth with the engine assembled. When I had the backplate off, I cold see that this was play between the needle bearings on the rod and the crank pin. Is this normal?

By the way Pe, I just ordered a carb for my MVVS 35 cc from you. Looking forward to getting that and getting it going again too!

K