removing main caps

i am assembling my 451,does anyone have any secrets to pulling out the main caps,i hit em with a dead blow hammer a few times,wiggle ect,but them suckers just dont wanna lift out,i stuck a chisel between the caps and block but it scored and damaged the mating surfaces,anyone know a better way to get them out ,any special tools,or secrets to it,also i put plastgauge across all my journals and torqued the caps down and i got about 2 thou clearance on all journals,is that 2 thou all up clearance or 2 thou on either side of the journal,even thouggh i only plasigauged the top of the journal where the cap goes on and it squashed to two thou,does that mean theres two thou clearance between the journal and lower main shell as well or two thou all up clearance??????????????