Hey 87sammibob,
Its not that hard to pull the carb off at all, the nuts that are on the vavle cover side are a little tricky to get off. Because of the lack of space, but if you have a shorty 12 mm wrench, it makes a so much easyer.
I just pulled mine off the other day, i didnt need a new gasket.
Mine used to backfire pretty bad, put a new o2 on it and it stopped most of backfires, it will do it once in a while.
hope that helps
Amilla