Strut Inserts Stuck

My front inserts are stuck. The struts dont seem to be bent so not sure what's going on. Has anyone heard of this happening?

Also does anyone know what a pair a V6 struts would be worth. Going to try and force them out so need a backup plan. How do V6 struts differ from escort and 4cyl capri?

Also strange but one side is 5mm shorter than the other[?]

Have you tried soaking petrol inside them?

Look on your compliance plate; under front axle does it have a c or an s? According to my research so far the s stands for standard suspension and the c stands for country?. One of the differences looks like a raise of 5 to 7 mm for cars that were sent to country dealers. When people seek out a replacement strut they need to be aware of the difference otherwise it is easy to end up with a mismatched pair.
It is not too difficult to run the grinder around the weld that fixes the spring land to the strut tube and reweld in a position that matches the other strut. You can then choose whether you want the country height or the standard height.

Struts should be worth 150+ each from wrecker and 100+ each from private seller.
V6 and 4 cyl capri struts are the same.
The difference between capri and mk1 escort struts is capri is more heavy duty and the spindle is set about 50mm higher up the strut on the capri so when used in the mk1 esky gives about 50mm lower ride height and can use capri brakes etc.

Thanks everyone, some great info there. Mine is an S but I thought the ride height change was done by the springs so maybe the 5mm is something else. The previous owner might have changed a strut when he crashed it but I doubt he would have got mk2 or 3 as not many around over here 20 years ago. Or maybe is a factory thing to compensate for road camber, driver weight? Maybe just a factory tolerance.

No oil came out (shouldnt be any in there?), and they are straight, but each strut has a metal collar in it, about 2 inches in on one and 4 inches on the other. No idea what they are for but am thinking they are rusted in.

I've made a jig so just have to get my porta pack working to see if I can pull them out - big hammer didn't work.

The score so far - struts 1, 10t tonne power pack 1.

Seems some @#*&ing idiot filled them up with resin. Oil for better heat transfer I can live with but resin - [:(!]

Got 1 out but the other is so stuck that it bent the spring seat and broke the strut top. Time for some heat.

Its accepted practice to O ring the insert to stop it rattling, but resin?

The saga continues, the second one is so tight that the guts of the strut pulled out leaving the casing behind. I would never have thought resin woud be so strong [8~2]

Going to try and glue a hole saw onto some pipe and drill it out[%]