340 not running anymore...Help Please?

More questions.....

1. I'm not really familiar with working on carbs so I downloaded the instructions for my carburetor from the Holley website and started trying to figure out what is what on it and I still am at a loss as to how to tell if the floats are stuck etc. Can anyone point me in the right direction for some instructions?

2. While I was identifying the parts and what they did, I came across something. The zip-ties are attached to a level that is part of the vacuum operated secondary throttle mechanism. The zip-ties appear to override the vacuum and open the secondary throttles whenever the throttle lever moves. Is this some sort of vacuum to mechanical override? Is there any legitimate reason that I should have these zip-ties on there?

Secondary.jpg