Air emissions System Question

Hey yall,
Ive been working on my 79 kz650 b3 for a while now; got her last summer. Its all stock except for an aftermarket 4 into 1 exhaust. I did rejet for the exhaust. And my bike runs great, maybe could use some fine tuming jetting wise but its close. I have cleaned the carbs thoroughly many times. Ok so my issue is this, i have had backfiring since i got it and finally got brave enough to remove the emissions system after reading that it could fail, and the bike might run better without it, etc. So i did remove it and plugged the carb holders and ran a single hose in between the two vents on the valve cover. Simple right?
so i started it up, and its idling sooo beautiful, nice and smooth, no back firing when i let off the throttle revs. I mean it has never run so beautiful. The idle dropped significantly, which is to be expected. But when i took her for a ride, it just kept bogging down upon attempted acceleration. i only drove it half a mile, i didnt want to do any damage till i asked yall..
so i havent had time to experiment on my own, but could it be that i just need to turn the air screws out to adjust for the mod?
thanks a lot
R

Ddi you cap off/seal the many vacuum lines? The big one going to the air filter box? Checked for vacuum leaks on the rubber ducting(boots)from the air filter to the carbs? At the carb holders(between the carbs and engine)?

The system only had two hoses to the valve cover and two to the little nipples on the carb holders. I capped of the carb holders. I did check for air leaks, everything is tight.
I havent yet found a good way to plug the one going into the air filter box. Could that have much of an effect? i remember last time i cleaned my carbs i accidentally unplugged the hose from the air filter box while trying to get the throttle pullies back in place, but even then the bike was running ok. no noticable loss in performance.
ill cap that and check my plugs to see if im running rich after removing this system tomorrow and if i am, try screwing out the air screws to give her more breath.
to be cont...

Did some testing today. Checked the plugs and they were really black. so i backed off on the air screw a full 2 turns out and took it for a ride. She ran better but still some hesitation on accel, checked the plugs after the run and they were super white and hot. Turned the screws in a quarter turn and took her for a ride. The plugs were still white but had some good power and no hesitation. Turned the screws in another quarter, making it 1 and 1/2. took her for a ride and she runs great. i bet i could turn them in another quarter and get it right on. which is really funny because upon removal of the emissions system the screws were out 1 and 1/8.
I am really surpised to see the delicate nature of these bikes. It seems that it just needed time to adjust to the new way that it was being run after the emissions system was taken off.
So anyway, lesson learned and what im really excited about is the mod totally eliminated the backfiring i was experiencing on quick off throttling.
awesome.
Thanks
next up, the relay mod cuz im barely getting 11 vs to my ignition....

Maybe you had a leak in the emission system when you jetted. Now that it's sealed, you are no longer getting that extra air, so now you are running rich. You may have to go back a few notches on the jets.