DatsunDoug

Nope, my guess is the previous mechanic was missing the pin and just left it out. My understanding is that the main purpose of the dowel pins is to make it easier to seat the gasket and align the pump correctly prior to tightening the bolts. I measured the remaining pin with my calipers, it was ~ 5 mm or about 0.20"....so I took a 5 mm cap screw, cut off the head, put some loctite red on the threads and tapped it into the front cover. Spent a fair amount of time scraping old gasket, lubing the bolts and cleaning them up, etc. Cleaned a ton of black/greasy mess off the front cover. Where is this coming from? Valve cover? front cover? Fuel pump gaskets?

Does it matter if one of the two dowel pins is missing? When I took mine apart only one of the two pins was there. Where could I find another dowel pin

Well thats a low serial number, original Z, you should be able to get good money for her. I would think at least 12-15k?

if you put in a Chevy V8, a GM transmission, and a Chevy rear end... then is it really a Z? The heart of the Z has always been its engine, so if its got a V-8 in there, its hardly a Datsun any longer.

The ballast resistor on a 240 is designed to be used with a low resistance (1.5 ohm) coil. Check across the (-) and (+) of your coil. If its 3.2 ohms then you should bypass the ballast resistor. However, if you have a low internal resistance coil then you should use the ballast, or you will overheat and damage your coil.

You did not mention if that coil uses an external ballast resistor?? Stock ignition system did and remember that when the key is turned to "start" power is bypassing the ballast to get higher voltage at the coil. (1) Start by checking the two wires at the coil. Verify with a meter that you are getting 12V at the positive side of the coil (with the ignition switch in the "on" position." If there is a ballast resistor, voltage at the coil might be lower, like 9V. (2) Check for continuity on the wire from the (-) side of the coil to the distributor. That wire should go to ground when the points are closed. (3) Make sure point gap is correct. Sounds like points may not be opening far enough. Is there any play in distrib shaft?

This is almost always the sending unit, or a bad electrical connection at the sending unit. I have never seen a early Z gas gauge go bad!

This could either be a clogged fuel filter... OR as others mentioned a loose connection in the ignition system.