Another question, honestly people, how much work is involved in changing out a transmission? Like I said before, I have never done any trans work and I don't know how intimidated I should feel.

 

maybe it would be best to just get the exact correct transmission. everything would fit and would greatly simplify the effort and greatly reduce potential problems/questions. 1998 is a one year only. it has a different torque converter than 1996 and 1997 and 1998 has a different electrical connector for the transmission indicator switch than 1999+ What I was suggesting is you get a newer trans which I located for you, the torque converter will fit your engine, and I suggested you get the wire harness that is on the a fore mentioned trans so you can splice in the transmission indicator switch to your vehicle wire harness

as for how hard, you need a lot of tools, jack stands, some floor jacks, a lot of patience, factory service manual, some friends that can help and a lot of change for the cuss jar.