Removing front camshaft seal from housing?

[funcrew]

I have the football-shaped cam seal housing out of the head:

http://www.bmwe34.net/E34main/Maintenance/Engine/Data/Timing15Big.jpg

And the o-ring came right out, but I can't get the seal out & don't want to scratch the aluminum housing with extreme screwdriver violence. Is there a trick to getting the old seal out easy like?

[AlarmedBread]

[funcrew]

That looks like something you'd find in an S&M dungeon here in Vegas - I got wood just thinking about it. What is it?

Also, I beat the hell out of the old seal with a screwdriver and hammer and couldn't get the main part of it out of the housing at all. It doesn't seem like it should be that hard.

[StereoInstaller1]

[funcrew]

Well, I dented up the housing and the seal's still not out.

[StereoInstaller1]

I just CAREFULLY pried mine out with a screwdriver. Made a tiny scratch on the mating surface, but not any weeping at all in 3K miles.

[Schniddy]

Bently recommends getting it pressed in and out

[funcrew]

Bently recommends getting it pressed in and out

That seems extreme, but I tried everything else suggested and still destroyed my seal housing. Doing something properly (that's not free) doesn't really seem in the spirit of R3V, does it?