h22 piston removal!! please help

[ONLY_Vtec]

Heres the story, i got my lude back in May, i knew it had some problems...but i didnt expect all this. My car jumped time once, i had it retimed, then it did it again. So, seeing as how it had alot of blow by and i was going to replace the oil pump(along with the belt tensioner) i decided to put a new set of piston rings on. WELL, after the oil pan was taken off and all that jazz, I unbolted the connecting rods. The bottoms and the bearings fell down like they should...but i cant get the pistons out of the top of the cam shaft...My manual says they should just tap up out of the block...but then again they have the engine shown sitting on a bench...not still connected to the crankshaft. Can anyone please tell me what could be holding me back. I have no idea...THANKS!