... for those who know. After removal of vent assembly from dash, how does one remove the top clips (i got the bottoms) which hold the inner vent assembly to the outer vent cover (make sense?)

.. what I'm trying to do is to paint the outer cover and have it clear coated, but want to remove the vents and just paint the outer vent cover, but i'm having trouble removing the vent assembly...

Any help or suggestions are welcome!

Thanks all,
maxima0002