Fuel pump is a bitch of a job. I did mine recently. It doesn't require any special tool, but it does take patients. Before you do think about it though, replace your fuel filter. If it is blocked, it will cause your pump to 'stall'. You might be lucky, and the fuel pump might start working after you put the new filter in. If you do need to replace the pump.....
Cant remember exactly what i paid. A rough guess, I think I might have paid $180 or something like that for the pump from repco. Holden were a lot more $ and didn't have any in stock. Repco carried heaps and were cheaper, so I went with one of them.
This is what you can do though, it worked for me. Get under the fuel tank and give a few really hard whacks to the bottom of the fuel tank in the middle. This is roughly where the fuel pump sits. Then try and start your car. It should start, if not give it a few more whacks. If it does start, you can drive it to your mechanic and get him to do it. I have no idea what they would charge you, but would save you a bit of grief.
If you think you can do it yourself, or are short on the cash.
Read the manual, do a search on here, there are a few guys that have done it before that gave some handy hints when they did theirs.
You will need to drain the fuel tank for starters. It was a Saturday morning when mine stopped working, the mechanics were closed and I really needed my car for the Monday so I decided I would do it myself. So first off I needed to drain my almost full fuel tank. My old man offered me some of his old drums - which once contained oil etc, but i didnt want any dirt/other contaminants getting back into the tank, so I went and purchased 2x 20L fuel drums, for about $22 each.
I also bought a new garden hose to syphon the fuel. The manual says you shouldnt syphon with your mouth, but you really cant get it out unless you have a pump capable of doing it for you. I syponed by mouth and drank a bit of fuel, but ended up getting most of it. I reakon after the job was done though, I had lost about 10 litres, say a $10 loss.
Getting the pump out can be a bit tricky, but it is possible. I ended up mucking around for the whole weekend on it. Fault started Saturday morning and I got it completed just on dark on Sunday night.
After all of that, I could replace the fuel pump alot quicker now, maybe in a morning, and I could probably do it without loosing any fuel. I would definatly be taking the mechanic option though, if you have got the cash. They can probably do it in an hour or two, and would have the pump to quickly and easily drain the tank. It probably ended up costing me the same as if I went and paid a mechanic to do it, but at the end of the day I do have a few extra bits and pieces in my shed.
Let me know if you are doing it and I will offer my assistance.
Good luck
