First and for most....glad to be here, and I look forward to problem solving a lot of issues I've been having these past few months with my dodge dakota!
Truck Specs:
1990 Dodge Dakota (1987 dakota 3.9L engine swap)
Holley 390CFM 4bbl Carb (model #:4160) (list #: 8007)
mopar 4bbl intake
original 1990 fuel tank with in-tank pump

I have had this truck for a few months now, and I hope to get it on the road soon!
The problems I'm having right now are as follows...

The past owner got rid of the factory mechanical fuel pump....disconnected the in-tank pump, and had a carter fuel pump on the rail.....which lead to a fuel filter then to another tiny electric fuel pump under the hood! Pain in the ***!!
So i brought it to my mechanic....he then removed the two pumps....installed a factory mechanical fuel pump, but it turned out my super old 390 cfm carb needed to be rebuilt!! Flooding issues mostly (adjusted the floats, popped a gauge on...still on the outs! I rebuilt it a few weeks later and sold it for $250! Last week I said.... *** it....I'll buy a brand new one! I ended up getting the truck towed back to my house, being that my mechanic was going on a 3 month vacation. I got really busy at work and never got a chance to talk to him to go over everything he did in full on the truck (mostly for my own knowledge). So basically where I am now is... I want to tackle the installation of the carb, new dead head style adjustable fuel pressure regulator (not a bypass regulator), and brand new pressure gauge. The carb install and setup doesn't worry me...just installing the regulator and gauge confuses the hell out of me being that I'm not sure what the mechanic did....Originally the return line was plugged, but now it looks like my mechanic is making use of it! I'm told that if my return line is being used, then i need a return style regulator...which makes sense....but I was also told that..."You don't necessarily need a return, you could put a tee before the regulator then plumb a line from the 2nd out back to the tee". Will this work?? IS this safe? I have posted some pictures online which show a few pics of whats going on....which I don't really know!! Putting my heart and soul into learning but can't find anyone to throw out some suggestions of whats going on! That's why I'm here! The pictures are posted at... http://www.picturetrail.com/chrisblaze
1st pic- crappy pic
2nd pic- shows the two lines in use now (ones the return line right??)
3rd pic- a little further back, still showing two fuel lines
4th pic- ignore the ****ty fuel pressure reg...I've never seen a three port fuel filter....The hose going into the side (top in pic) the return hose?
5th pic-The mechanical pump (would one of these be the return)

I would like apologize first because I'm sure these questions are probably silly to be asking...but it is what it is!! I think once I have a good understanding of whats going on, I can eat up that knowledge and move on!

Thanks for reading if you got this far!