Cr125 jetting disaster?

Hi, so I have this lovely cr125 1994, huge honda fan btw here, had/have a CR (125) 1984, 1987, 1989, 1994, 1996, (250) 1994 1995(!!!)

so I went for a complete rebuild on my cr 125 1994, frame up, powdercoat and all.

Some info;

last time I was riding it sounded like it was having an airleak or jetting was off? Either way, it blew, conn rod bearing blew, so it got “rebuilt”

Engine all seals and bearings + con rod have been changed

new keihin carb 

Bought a second hand cylinder, supposedly a ‘96 cylinder, used my old head and piston, new rings. Didn’t start, compression was low. Cylinder is in good (better) shape than my original 94 cylinder

When I just got the bike it ran ok, after I mounted vforce 4’s (with liquid gasket) it ran more crappy..

Wouldn’t start after the rebuild so I bought a new piston with ring, starts and runs now, only issue is the jetting

so I was on a ? Main jet? Forgot.. might be 170 or so, not important at the moment,

pilot jet started off with a 52, air screw out 7-8 full screws finally idled properly

went lower, lower, lower.. 52-48-42-38 and now I am on 35, now it sounds like it is hanging in revs because it is very likely way too lean, but it still needs ??? A loooot of airscrew out.. am still in 6-7 full screws out.. just idles more crappy now

Am I wrong here if I say that my brand new vforce 4 is probably leaking air, and also caused me to blow my con rod? since it was running fine before the vforce, after I just couldn’t get it jetted..

I did see several vforce 3 posts about them leaking air..

first of all, ridiculous much? Spending 100$+ on a faulty product? And it ending up possibly costing me hundreds, new con. Rod, service fees, oil, gaskets.. all added up nicely..

The only other possible thing is that cylinder, this “new” one.. 

any other suggestions are welcome! 
 

wanting to make sure these are air leak symptoms.. 

so it does idle with 35 and 52, although it idled a lot better with the higher jets. When I pull the throttle on 52 pilot it does seem quite ok, nothing too crazy, just the air screw/idle part.. could imagine it could probably run ok, as it did before.. 

any help please.. can’t wait to start digging into my reed valves just to find out it wasn’t the issue!! 😁. 
 

I doubt it is possible I should go even lower on the pilot since it is starting to sound a lot like a lean jetting.. even though the airscrew is still so far out..