I didnt have the time to completely disassemble all of the carbs,
Get the honda shop manual before going beyond the vacuum and float chambers. Don't ask questions or try to be cheap, just do it.
$30 for a real 79-82 honda CB650 manual with every bit of system information you'll ever need.
I am no carb master, but I assume that when messing with parts that need to be so finely tuned like jets, I would assume its not good to go tearing up the ends.
Your assumption about not tearing them up would be correct.
Finely tuned jets? Ha! Those fuel pickups are nothing more than clean all the gunk out of all the holes, screw them in until they're snug then apply just a very tiny smidgen more torque to insure they won't back out. There is no adjustments on them. No breaker bar is needed to keep them in place though people think so for some reason.
The 'finely tuned' bit about carburetors is way overrated. There are precisely five components of the 310+ pieces on the VB44 carburetor design that has to be carefully set, other than that, there is not much you can screw up without being a gorilla with a sledge hammer and pry bar. There are lots of gorilla's out there with sledge hammers and pry bars. Most work in motorcycle shops and the rest don't use manuals.
do you happen to have any explaining how to tune carbs as well?
I have two specific carburetor links on this site in the fuel, cooling and exhaust system that are stickied. Read them.
There are several other links discussing carburetor cleaning that can be found with the search option.
I have been asking around and the common consensus is thati can either attempt it myself( which I would like to learn anyway) or cut off my right arm and use it as currency.
Just your right arm? You must have found a very inexpensive shop. Most want your head and half the family of all your friends. The last I heard, a simple dunking in toxic chemicals is $300 and they won't touch it for any price to do a proper full teardown nit-pick cleaning.
Read the manual, look at the hardware, think for yourself. Then ask on this board as needed. We can talk you through it if you have any basic wrenching skills.
Step one: Forget the rebuild kit until you know exactly what you need. Most of the time, a simple disassembly, cleaning and reassembly is all that's necessary. Just pulling the top and bottom of the carburetor and cleaning there is enough. Depending on how bad it's gunked up, you may have to disassemble more or maybe replace parts though you won't know that until you get further into the cleaning process. Be very careful handling the air-T-connector hoses and expect to replace them soon and about every 5-7 years.
<--- resident VB44A/C wizard
