safari won't start

i ran out of gas today in the driveway of a gas station. then the van wouldn't start. it is an 88 4.3 liter, cheapy trim. I took off the engine cover and poured a little gas into the throttle body...it started, but then died again. I tried it two more times, started then died again. Am I supposed to hear the fuel pump cycle? i couldn't hear it, so my guess would be the fuel pump went out....and i still showed a tiny bit of gas in the tank when i pulled into the gas station. it kinda surprised me when it stopped. Any other ideas out there? is the fuel pump in the tank? How hard is it to change out?

After going to a shop, I found out that if you run out of gas, you will almost always burn up your fuel pump, because it uses the gas to cool it. Started working on it yesterday, got the tank dropped and the fuel pump out pretty fast, but then i had to cut the vapor hose to get it off, and couldn't find a replacement. Everywhere I called, they said they had it, but when we went to look for it, all's they could find was heater hose. Finally went to the Napa auto parts store in downtown Sacramento, and same thing, but i asked them about a piece of hose laying on the floor...it was two feet of gas line 5/8", and the guy gave it to me for free. Well, after i installed the pump, it started right up and ran fine...had a little trouble jacking up the half-full/half empty (for the philosophers) gas tank, because i only had a floor jack, but after some maneuvering and holding it while the next door neighbor lady ran the jack, it went right in. The point of this whole story is: just don't run out of gas!!!!just don't run out of gas just don't run out of gas

Yea I ran out of gas too. Couldn't for the life of me get it started. I did think that the fuel pump went out but I kept trying. Poured gas into the intake. Kept trying. For like, 2 days. Got it started. Replaced the alternator (2 times) and now, it runs like a top. No new fuel pump for me!