I picked up a Delphi at Autozone for $16.99, and it’s done just fine for 26 months/18,000 miles. Mine’s a two line, though. The three line pump is $18.99. Good reviews on Amazon. I know it happens, but I’ve only seen fuel pumps work or not work, not really anything in between. I’ve mostly replaced them as a measure of preventative maintenance, and I’ve seen a few electric ones just die on the spot. I think it’s a good thing to do a fuel system overhaul like you’re doing when something questionable is going on or a vehicle’s sat for a long time, but I’m not certain your idle issue is fuel related.
Maybe go through and check for vacuum leaks. You can do this visually, with a small can of ether sprayed on common leak sites to see if the idle speed changes, or you can pull lines off at the carb, get a 99 cent cigar, and blow through the lines backwards from the carb and watch for smoke to waft upwards. Places to check are the PCV valve (does it rattle when you shake it, indicating a good valve), carb base gasket with a can of ether sprayed around the bottom of the carb, power brake booster/check valve (possibly plugging off the line and seeing if idle quality improves but vacuum gauge more accurate meter for this), EGR valve stuck open (check for movement with a cold engine by pushing up on the plunger and making sure it moves freely; you could also remove and clean the carbon of the pintle and out of the ports in the manifold), check valved line coming off the manifold and going to HVAC mode control and the vacuum storage canister (those can crack), and the various other vacuum lines under there. Not sure what you have going on with emissions, though.
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