You will need a special tool for the front shocks. If you search I questioned about it prior to changing my struts. I rented it from AutoZone. They also have spring compressors that you can rent.
You pay the full price of the tools when you rent them at AutoZone and get all of the money back when you return them, or you can keep them and just never get your money back.
The install was easy. I installed coilovers on my MR2 prior to this but I didn't need to disassemble the struts to do so. It was just unbolt the old and bolt in the new so the Lumina was the first time to do that sort of stuff.
The fronts are almost as easy as they can get. Pop the hood and notice the metal plate over top of the struts. Remove that with the 3 nuts. Then with the tool provided in the kit you take the large nut off the top of the strut. The tool allows you to put a torq bit in the center of the shaft to prevent it from spinning. You might be able to just use an impact to get it off anyways.
Once that is off you can pry the large rubber bushing out, and the bumper. Now take the other part of the special tool and slide it down over the strut shaft and hook it onto the ring. Break that loose and unthread it. Now the shock will be loose and you simply lift it up out of the hole under the hood.
Remove any of the old oil that might of leaked and put the new shock in. Tighten the ring around it with the tool, put the bumper and bushing back in (may want to replace bushings) and then put the large nut on the shaft. Then cover it back up.
The rear will require the spring compressors. Jack the rear of the car up (entire rear, you don't any force on the sway bar) and place on jack stands. Remove the rear wheel and you will see two large bolts at the bottom of the strut. Remove those, these also attach the sway bar. The bolts are splined so you'll need to loosen the nut and then hit the bolt out. Now crawl inside the trunk and pop the rubber cap off the top of the strut opening and remove the 3 or 4 (I don't remember) nuts. Have someone hold the strut up when you do this. After those are removed you can remove the entire strut (it will come out). Then compress the spring and remove the large nut up top and lift the spring off the shock.
Get your new shock and put the spring on and align it properly. Then put the top bushing back on (may want to replace, mine clunks because I didn't) and bolt it back on. Then uncompress the spring and bolt it back in the car.
Done... I had some help but did all 4 on my car in about 3 hours. The fronts you'll be able to do yourself and will have done in no time.
This was a '95, but I doubt there would be any differences. Feel free to get a hold of me on AOL if you want to talk about it anymore; my screen name is Kup0p, with a zero.