2000 Ford Crown Victoria fuel pump

Thanks for the input merlin2021. That's the answer I've been getting although this car doesn't have an access on the top, it's on the forward side of the tank. That's where the fuel lines and the electric sending wires come through. It has six screws holding it on and probably a gasket, too. I was wondering if anyone has come across this setup before and if I take the plate off will gas come gushing out or is there a separate cavity that the pump sits in? It's an police interceptor model. Does that make it different?

No dont tap anything with anything this is a very simple procedure syphon out the gas but to do that is kind of tricky because your tank will have a device making it hard to syphon so follow these steps and you will be fine
1. Disconnect the battery
2. Jack up the car put it on jack stands
3. Get a jack under the tank and put a peice of wood between the jack and the tank
4. Jack up the jack till it holds some of the weight of the tank
5. There will be bolts inside the gas door on both sides of the fender you must remove that will allow the neck of the tank to come off the fender
6. Unscrew the bolts holding the straps on the tank
7. Lower it ONLY A FEW INCHES then pull the neck out of the tank it may take some working and wobbling and a special disconnect tool to tak off the line once that neck is out u can syphon the gas out
8. Then disconnect all the lines from the access panel on the side of the tank
9 drop the tank out
10 take those bolts out and pull out the pump
if you leave gas in there it will come gushing out
11. Now if your replacing the pump only unlplug the pump and unscrew the bracket holding it in place
12. If your replacing the whole assembly simply unlpug the old one and plug in the new one
#* make sure the new pump gets a new filter the filter is a little screen that attaches to the bottom of the pump do not get this confused with the fuel filter which is actually on the fuel line
and there you ahve it reverse the procedure and there you go I know this because I just did it on mine like 3 days ago lol