Ok, so my bike ran for 50 miles and the died.  I rerouted the hoses since the reserve and petcock to carb line were backwards.  Also noticed a problem in that the vacuum line was disconnected.  However, now the bike won't idle and runs like poo.  I put everything on with 1 change.  I connected the vacuum line to the left carb (left if I am sitting on the bike looking at the carbs.  The right carb has a similar outlet.  I thought I read in here that it must be capped, so I did that.  Now it runs terrible.  Is it supposed to be capped?

Oh, FYI it's a '92

bump

Mine is sealed from the inside.  Are you sure the hose routing is correct?  Did you pinch the vacuum line when reinstalling the airbox?

don't know if I can help much, but on my 99' the carbs have the same nipple but if you look inside one of them is sealed from the inside.

check yours and see.   why'd you switch it in the first place?  have you tried switching it back.

if the bike ran for 50miles with the vaccum line disconnected, see if it will run now with it disconnected.
 you may have a damaged petcock. (maybe you should stop playing with it  )

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If it were me, I would remove the gas tank and use a bottle to feed the carbs directly (bypassing the tank mounted petcock)
that will isolate the problem to either your petcocks or your carbs.

but wadda i know? good luck

Thanks for the replies.  I have them off right now so I'll have to see if the right carb is sealed off.  Now I just have to figure out how to adjust float height.  They're way high, and clymer is less than helpful on the subject

Clymer sucks

http://www.gstwin.com/float_height_check.htm

That's better, but not a very detailed drawing still.  Pictures are nice.

So I am to:
1) Hold the carbs upside down from their normal position.  Down becomes up, up becomes down.

2) Measure from the gasket of the bowl to the lowest point of the bottom of the float? (The bottom that would actually be the top if everything were right side up)

3) Just bend the metal tab that the float needle hooks onto until the height is right

Sorry, I'm not trying to be dense here, and I've searched to the point of carpal tunnel, but I'm just struggling with how exactly to take this 14.6 mm measurement.

You don't measure.  Don't use the Clymer method, it doesn't work.  Don't take the carbs off.  Just do what the instructions say.  If the fuel height is incorrect, then you'll have to take off the carbs and adjust the float height. 

Oh sorry, my bad.  I already did the tube check yesterdayt and the levels came up as WAY high.  No wonder my plugs were wet, my engine flooding, and my overflow tube spewing gas.  The carbs are apart, I just used the partsnmore rebuild kit.  But I need to fix float height before i put them back on.  I'm not sure how to measure it to set it right.

You want to push the tang up so that the valve closes earlier. However, it's more of a "guess and check" procedure.

Have the carbs upside down. Press the plastic frame around the float in its seat, with the needle in its correct position. Measure over the highest part of the float, relative to the gasket plane.