A friend has a .45 1911 that was custom made into a competition race gun. The bushing is not standard, but is a screw-in type, so it doesn't disassemble like the Govt. Model does.
How easy, or hard, is it to convert it back to its original configuration so its easier to disassemble and reassemble?
I hear what you're saying about a certain degree of "slop"... it's a feature, not a bug, of most 1911's I've had over the years.
Pretty much, slightly different geometry, but its the same reason people who mess with their glocks too much actually end up making them LESS reliable than a factory OEM glock. Sure it'll TECHNICALLY be smoother and run better in controlled environments, but the tighter the tolerances you force on a gun, the less reliable it is outside of controlled environments. That's the reason glocks, AKs, etc. Have such absurd reliability. Because they've optimized the "slop" about as much as you can to get maximum reliability. 1911s and 2011s are more finnicky. They ALSO have some, but generally a tighter OEM. So when you get into competition and race gun tier 1911s and 2011s you're often dealing with nanometers of clearance levels tolerance, which is why they have to be oiled and lubed so often.
Hence, why your friend is better off just buying a new 1911 if he's wanting one for anything other than a range toy/competition gun
I will pass that along.