I used WD-40 on the snorkels from the airbox. My problem was that, if I pushed the carbs into the intake manifolds first, I couldn't push the entire airbox against the carbs so all four snorkels mated at the same time. The airbox just didn't seem to move close enough to the carbs. Worked fine to mount airbox on carbs first and then push the whole assembly (carbs and airbox) into intake manifolds. Will just do it like this next time.
Hopefully I won't be pulling them for awhile. Filled the bowls on prime for a few seconds, pulled the choke, and hit the starter. Bike took off almost immediately. Runs smooth again and has all the power it had before. I've always got a slight popping on decel (which I'm lead to believe is an indication of the bike running lean), and that is still there, but bottom line is she's back to her prime. My first b12 carb cleaning was a success.
Mark