Then it was on to the cab floor. The buckets and console that came in the truck were in pretty nice shape, but I was told in no uncertain terms that this truck needs a bench seat. I didn't object - that would have been pointless
With seats, console and the floor shifter out, I pulled the carpet. Basically, I think when the PO mounted the bucket seats the 3rd time must have been the charm. Along with the holes for the shifter, I had about 25 non-factory holes in the floor to patch.
Some were small screw holes I could just weld and grind. Most were almost 5/16" and needed to be patched. I decided that the best way to tackle this was with a hole saw mounted in the drill press. The plugs were a little rough but the edges cleaned up ok with the angle grinder and a 50 grit disc. I used a step drill to open the holes up to the size of my plugs. A side benefit of this was that drilling the holes bigger got rid of most of the distortion around the holes. The seats had been bolted in without any kind of backing under the floor.