Sputters during acceleration

I'm not sure what you mean when you say that you separated the carbs from the intakes. If you mean that you are now running the carbs open to the air, without having the air flow through the filters and airbox, and then into the carbs, then you could be running too lean.

One way to see if it's too lean is to do a plug check. While the best way is to run the bike hard in top gear, that's too difficult unless you're on a race track, so try this; Run the bike for awhile at the top of second or third gear somewhere that you can do it safely, and then disengage the clutch, get completely off the throttle and coast to a stop and turn the engine off quickly. Then pull one or more spark plugs and look at the electrode end, ideally with a small magnifying glass. You can also use the camera on your smartphone, zooming in and taking a photo.

If the plug looks a bit tan or toast colored, you're OK, but if it looks white-ish, then you're probably running too lean. Conversely, if it looks dark and even a bit wet, it's too rich. You should go through the whole process more than once, to get an average.