PCV Valve troubles

[fretchh]

Hey working on new-to-me 98 ek9. I absolutely love it and i'm in the process of replacing a bunch of the maintenance gaskets (Distributor, VTEC solenoid). Current one I'm working on is the PCV valve and I cannot get it and the grommet to come out for the life of me.
It's red so its original (I think). I've unfortunately broken the valve itself and now am struggling to get the grommet out.

Help!

 

[Civicfacelift]

Maybe try heating the grommet to weaken it ?
Has the ball/spring come out of PCV ? I'd also keep a magnet on it to stop ball falling into intake manifold.
When I replaced mine, I think I left the hose attached to pcv and pulled it all out together.

 

[fretchh]

Update. To your point about the intake manifold @Civicfacelift, I opted to take it off. The top of the breather box had residue from the grommet leaking, so I took it to replace that and not drop any parts of the PCv into the intake or even worse, engine.
After getting the intake off, there was no possible way I was ever going to get that PCV valve off without it.

Another one of those, should have been 30 minutes turned into 5-6 hours in the end.

So it goes.