Back in 1996, Koni's cost me $78 each for the shocks (front), struts were $138 each, from Imparts, here in St. Louis. They also do mail order, and their phone is (314) 962-0810.
An "eyeball" alignment was more than good enough to drive the 10 miles to the tire store. Rear end was a bit squirrely, so take it easy. I wasn't worried about tire wear, since I did the struts the weekend before having new GT+4's mounted anyway, but if you aren't changing tires, you definitely don't want to drive very far (say 100 miles) before the alignment, or you may toast a tire.
Other shocks/struts which get good reviews from list members are the Monroe Sensatracs, which will be about half the $$ of the Koni's. Not adjustable, a bit softer, but definitely good quality, and if ride is important, probably better than Koni's. I figure the tradeoff between ride and handling is a VERY personal thing, so give my endorsement of Koni's strictly as personal opinion. My wife hates riding in the Fiero anyway, but the Koni's would be way too harsh for her tender tusch.
The gory details are:
Ordered a set of Koni struts and shocks through Imparts, the sole St. Louis dealer for Koni. Their prices are significantly lower than the Fiero Store, which helped. Parts came in last Thursday, so I set up an appointment this a.m. (Tuesday) for new tires and alignment, knowing that swapping the struts would necessitate the alignment, and, besides, the local Goodyear dealer has a sale this month on GT+4's. When I picked up the shocks and struts, I found that Imparts carries "Black Again", so I picked up a bottle to try on the lower body/rocker panel trim. (next week, maybe...)
Pulling the struts went pretty smoothly. With an 18" breaker bar and 24 mm socket, the bottom bolts came off without any serious problems. Top mounts are a breeze. The guy at Car-X who did my front brakes last week said to bring the strut assemblies by with the new struts and he'd swap 'em for me. Well, they were busy and it took him FOREVER to get around to it, so he said "no charge" (originally had said $10). Like my mother used to say, "whenever you get something free, you generally get what you paid for". He was NOT careful about aligning the top plate and bracket on the bottom of the struts, so I ended up going back to CarQuest and renting his spring compressors for the princely sum of $5.00 (yes, FIVE) for the day. Took all of 30 minutes of messing to get the springs seated against the stops on the Koni bottom flanges (why they're different from the OEM struts, who knows???), the tops and bottom mounts properly aligned, and torqued down carefully (avoiding damage to the adjuster nub which sticks out the top). Here's a thought: I set some 2x4's on the garage floor and aligned the knuckle bracket and outboard pair of studs on the top plate by making sure they both contacted the 2x4's solidly. The added height of the 2x4's gave me the clearance I needed for the compressors so they didn't hit the floor and mess up my sense of alignment.
Installing the new Koni's, once put together with the springs and bracketry, was no great hassle. I found that hanging them from the top by the inboard (long) stud and the rear of the two outboard studs, with the nuts just turned on by hand about 3 turns, left enough slop to manhandle the bottom bracket and knuckle fitting together with no worries about the strut dropping onto the outboard CV joint boot. I had marked the old struts noting which was right and left, and positioned the adjustable mount to match the old ones, figuring that would be "close enough for Jazz" to get the car in for tires and alignment.
The old right strut was bleeding hydraulic fluid, and both old ones would slide in and out with light finger pressure, so they were overdue for replacement.
The left front shock came off with no hassle. I had replaced both about 30,000 miles ago, so knew the routine for these. However, the right front shock had welded (rusted) its bottom bushing to the mounting bolt. Since the bolts go in from the rear, you can't just pound 'em out, the coil spring being a minor detail in the way. I spent a good hour-and-a-half on that damn bottom bolt. Finally coaxed it out a bit by using a sharp cold chisel pounded between the bolt head and mount on the lower control arm, then used a long punch (well, really, a star drill, but don't tell anyone...) to knock it the rest of the way out. (Yes, I did have the sense to leave the nut a couple of turns on so if [when] I screwed up the threads, I would just re-form them by removing the nut.)
Put everything back together. Looked at the rear end. Camber seems a bit excessive, but toe in/out seems ok, at least for one 8-mile drive to the tire store. Backed the car out for a tentative spin (ooh, bad word...) around the block. What do you know? Hands off wheel, the beast still tracks straight, so apparently the rear alignment is still neutral.
Rear end now feels solid instead of mushy. Once the new tires are mounted and I have a chance to drive it around a bit, I'll figure out what, if any, adjustments to make to the Koni shocks and struts. (They're just as-shipped now, which the instructions say is full soft.) First impression is that the rear is ok, front a little soft, but with new rubber and a bit more agressive driving, I'll know a lot better. (Somehow, I didn't feel like pushing it around the neighborhood with unknown rear alignment...)
Difficulty ratings: Struts, about a 6/10, but well within my capabilities. Shocks, left was a 3/10, right was off the scale because of that damn bottom bolt. I'm tempted to pull both the bottoms loose and wrap the bolts with Teflon pipe-joint tape. Even if half of it wears away, the other half would at least HELP prevent the sort of seizure problems that plagued me this weekend.
...hope this helps!!