Bloody valve oil seals

[oddball]

Ok, this may sound like a stupid question (again!) but......... How do you get the oil seals off of the top of the valve guides? Im sure there is an easy way but i will be damned if i can find it!
I tried pulling them off and all i keep ending up with is a wire spring O ring and a few manky bits that break off! This is the only thing left to be done before i can send the heads off to be cleaned and ported.
Im sure im gonna kick myself for missing an obvious solution but.......Please help!

[GaryA]

Well i use a set of long nose vice grips(small ones) , clamp the metal of the seal but don't go mad you only want to squash the seal a bit and not crack the valve guide it's sitting on , then just twist and pull and they will work loose . You will never pull them off from the rubber bit on top .

[Arkwright]

*** EDIT, bugger seemed to be logged in as Miss Owen, NOT Mr. Owen, damn-it***

I took a cheap pair of pliers, a grinder and a drill. Step one was to grind the pliers so they were thin enough to insert into the head. Step 2 was to drill a hole in the end of the pliers (when closed) so they then had a tubular gripping surface rather than a pair of flats. Sorry for the lousy description but does that make sense? (If not I'll grab a photo when I get home from work.

Cheers,

Owen.

[Garbe]

I used some long nosed pliers.

[oddball]

Cheers guys, will have another go at them now.