I think the carbs are running lean and wanted some suggestions.

Background: Head was just reinstalled after cleaning up the valves and putting in new oil seals. Adjusted the valves to within spec, however the carbs "spit" fuel out the intake during decels and at idle. It happens once every 10-15 seconds. If i pull the left plug wire off, nothing happens, if I pull the right one off, the bike dies. Both exhaust pipes get really hot though, so I assume both cylinders are firing. The bike runs pretty good after my last carb adjustment, but still hesitates slightly just above idle.

Here's what the plugs look like after idling for ~10 minutes:
<img src="http://imgur.com/yfaul.jpg" alt="Hosted by imgur.com" />

The bike used to have 40 pilots, 147.5 mains, 1 needle shim, and 2.5 turns out.

The new setup is 40 pilots, 147.5 mains, 3 shims, and screws don't affect the idle much. The right carb seems to lower the idle if I turn it all the way in, the left carb only seems to adjust the idle at like 5 turns out.

Bike runs good at WOT and holds an idle ok, but it backfires on startup and hesitates at slight throttle settings. It used to hesitate a lot more before I put the two extra shims in. So should I go with 45 pilots? 150 mains? More shims? I've never seen anyone on here run 45 pilots before, but the bike seems really lean right now.

I think you may have a missing O ring in the left side, maybe a bad vacuum line ... somehting letting in air.
I'd prolly go to 150 mains and 1 washer instead of 3.
Cool.
Buddha.

ok, I'll double-check to make sure none of the vaccuum caps are leaking and step it up to 150 mains tomorrow. I'll let you know how it goes.