1998 3.8 231cid -- replacing oil pan gasket

[ygohome]

I'm assuming this is a pretty straight forward operation. Havn't done it before. Nothing will be in the way and I can easily just drop the pan replace gasket and thats it? Or should I invest in an oil pump repair kit since I have the pan off as preventative maintenance?

I was planning on ordering through www.rockauto.com

their part number for the "oil pump repair kit" is 22453572 and sells for $38.79. Is this worth doing? ALso, how involved is the repair kit to do? I think it has the pick up tube and screen assembly but not sure what else is included.

BTW, is there a good writeup on how to do this somewhere or a good shop repair manual available?

Thanks,

Ben

*edit: local shop was asking a couple hundred and they said it was mostly for labor and that the gasket is expensive (the gasket was only $16 online)... so I figured I could save a bunch just doing it myself.

[GTP Dad]

Since this is a 3.8 you will have a difficult time replacing the oil pump with just the pan removed since you will need to remove the timing chain cover and the harmonic balancer too. Before you tackle this project you may want to invest in a good manual to check out what is involved. May be more than you want to tackle.

[ygohome]

Thanks for the headsup and quick reply. I've found a set of factory service manuals on ebay for a great price that I'm getting. Then I can see what all is involved.

Thanks,

Ben