No brass on the outside bleeds? Have a picture? The outside bleeds are for idle and transition circuits, There has to be bleeds either on top if it is a factory Holley, if there were mods to it a restriction inside in the main body or the metering block itself. When you take off the front bowl, take a picture of both the surface of the block and the main body. As far as a fuel ring, you need a good plug magnifier to see it, and doesn't show well right away. You can look at the end of the plug for fuel as well, here is a picture from another site to show you.
