1. sounds like the front chainring isn't centered
2. the wheel needs some more truing to get rid of the wobble and/or hop. A fluctuation in the sound of the freewheel ratcheting, even though it's in sync with the wheel, may have nothing to do with the trueness- more likely caused by slight differences in the pawls.
3. I,ve wrenched lots of bikes with a slight gap between locknuts and dropout- slightly annoying, but not a huge deal.