Congratulations on the recent success. You earned it! Careful what you do with the hormone rush.
If I had a nickel for everytime I burned off the fingerprints on my index fingers, I'd be friggin rich. They still aren't very "pronounced". Someday.
You don't have to burn your fingers, or wet them(saliva leaves deposits on hot chrome pipes.
Your body heat sensors are slow reacting and really only detect heat change, rather than heat amount. Just like you can pass your hand through a flame quickly without damage, you can sense header heat in a relative way, too.
First principle to keep in the fore, is that you always assume the pipe is hot enough to burn. Never grab and hold and wait for your too-slow heat sensors to tell you you did a bad, painfull thing.
Do the flash touch thing, and wait for your heat sensor data to reach your brain after you have removed your touch for a second or two. You can always repeat/increase the frequency/duration of the touch to get more heat data into your hand, to be reported back to your brain after you have released from the touch. After you do that with each pipe, then you get a sense of the heat content on each pipe. If you can touch each pipe with the same relative frequency and duration, you have even pipe heating.
Should I put stock air box on?
I'd say yes.
SHould I modify my air box?
Not till you have the bike running predictably. How many balls do you wish to juggle at one time?
SHould I buy pods and jet my carbs?
How many balls do you wish to juggle at one time?
It may well be that you are done with the carbs at this point, unless you make further changes.
The float pins/components will self polish, with a bit engine run time vibration.
Installing PODs, pretty much insures that you will have to rejet. For that, you need a test track where wide open throttle operation is routinely accepted, or a dyno machine.
Without the dyno, you will also have to learn to read the spark plug deposits for combustion conditions.
I've not found it that difficult to install the 750's air box, particularly if you install the top half first, rather than the whole thing at once. I also remove the band clamps completely from the couplers, both for removal and installation.
Don't bother fine tuning the carbs without the filter on, whatever path you chose.
Cheers,
