Upgrade 3.8.7 > 4.2, uninstalling mods

[Kirkus]

I have what seems like an easy question, but with me you never know.

I want to upgrade from 3.8.7 > 4.2. I have a lot of mods installed on my 3.8.7 forum. I want to start my 4.2 upgrade without any modifications at all, then I'll install only the few I need (and not all the cool, pretty ones that I added when the forum was new just because they were cool and pretty).

I have a development forum set up and have upgraded the 3.8.7 to 4.2 already. So far no problems.

If I disable hooks via my config file and the 4.2 version works correctly, without errors, can I assume that it would be safe to uninstall all of my 3.8.7 mods from AdminCP > Plugins & Products > Manage Products, remove the mod's files and directories from the server, then drop the non-vBulletin tables?

Wouldn't this, in essence, give me a clean install of 4.2?