I plan on at least taking the carbs off the bike (as a single unit) and cleaning what I can easily get to. My questions are:

1) Will that including being able to get to the low speed jets?
2) If not, and I need to do some extra work to get to said jets, will the carbs need to be synchronized again once put back together?

The shop manual has everything you'd need regarding tearing the things down to their constituent parts, but nothing about how far you need to go just to fix up gummed/varnished bits.

 

You may have to soak the jets in carb cleaner, if they were as bad as my R75/5's were. When you get to using spray cleaner, make SURE you wear a face shield or goggles. That solvent WILL kick back and get in your eyes (voice of d'oh experience).

I can't imagine NOT sync'ing carbs, and tuning (air/fuel screw), after any major teardown. Don't forget to balance your cable slack while you're in there.

 

what motorcycle are we talking about? you will need to remove the float bowls to get to the pilot jets. you should sync. the carbs. after removal. I fix bikes for a living. its not that hard to clean carbs. you can do it yourself just be careful. make sure you clean all the jets. nothing is worse than having to do the job twice.

 

Honda 599. (Aka Hornet, aka CB600F6.)
I don't have the proper tool to synch carbs, which is why I was hoping I could get to the bits that needed cleaning without tearing things down too much.

 

you can clean the pilot jets without changing the carb sync just remove the carbs (not that easy) remove the float bowls remove the pilot jets and clean them with carb cleaner I like berrymans b-12 make sure you put the jets back in the same place you took them out of. you would be saving yourself about 3 to 4 hundred dollars. don't touch the sync screws between the carbs then put the carbs back on the bike. this is considered to be about a 4 hour job for a skilled tech. if you are not comfortable with doing this repair then find a shop in your area to do it for you. the hornet is an awsome bike great choice.

 

Well, I got things torn down enough to take the carbs out, except for the step of removing the throttle cables - I couldn't figure out how to disconnect those from the carbs. The service manual wasn't much help - basically just said "Disconnect the throttle cables." The cam they attach to are way down in there.

 

yeah its not that easy, you could disconnect the cables from the throttle and not the carbs. or slide the carbs out part way then disconnect the cables.

 

FYI If you google carb syncing you will find a number of home made tools that are oil, a yard stick and some clear piping. All together well worth it as they get out of sync after a season's riding sometimes anyway.