Yes, the sole purpose in life for those pesky plugs is to keep you from tampering with them. Certain markets that don't have political mandates don't have them... such as the UK. As far as what model carbs... just about every carb on every bike made for the USA for the last 10, maybe 20, years has 'em.
The black soot is either carbon or oil. Since yours is a K3, it's unlikely to be oil related. If it's carbon, you're too rich. Could be the screws, could be the shimmed needles or even your jets. You need to do a more thorough investigation with an exhaust gas analyzer, or some riding with the plug chop method.