Just did the tranny service on my 94' pathy xe, and though I'd add my 2 cents worth of tips.
I tried just taking the shortcut and just pulling the carpet up from the passenger side, however could'nt nearly get at all the fasterners for the shift boot/cover...not to mention trying to get it back together properly. Anyhow, here's what I found to make the job go easier:
I removed both front seats, both sides of the carpet/door sill strips, both lower plastic kick plates, and the foward 2 bolts of the center console. Pulled the carpet up from both sides, and over the top of the shifter...get it the hell out of the way. Only takes about 15 min to pull all that stuff out of the way, and better than tearing/swearing with the thing for multiple hrs. Also a good excuse to do a complete vacuum job
oh, there are 2 snap rings at the top of the shifter there, it's the upper-most one. hth