The only way I seem to be able to remove those nuts holding the letters on the grill of the engine lid are to destroy them and in the process break the posts on those letters. Is there a proper/easier way to remove them? TIA

I used a pair of parallel jaw pliers and squeezed the outside rubber edges until the inside metal snapped. Think of a potato chip. Squeeze the edges and it snaps in the middle.
To reinstall the letters I used small rubber grommets.
Hope this helps.

That would be how I have done it in the past....
BUT
Be careful to not snap off the "pins" on the letters that the fasteners are affixed to.

NOT to hijack this thread..but...are those OEM (and pain in the ass) fasteners available?

They are available at your friendly Porsche dealer.

All the 'correct' fasteners I've found are too small, but maybe I'm just buying the wrong ones. There's two sizes that were used across the Porsche line over the years. Lately I've been using a combination of a rubber washer and a round steel push clip. It's basically the same thing as the original, it just doesn't look original.

On my '73 (silver letters) I removed mine by gently holding the flat part with a plier and slowly rotating the "nut". The putty-like material cracked and crumbled, but the posts didn't break. I bought new "nuts" from 914Rubber for the reinstall...

Place a screwdriver under the nut and apply slight pressure while you unscrew them. They will "thread" off. I know, they aren't threaded but they leave a threaded trail on the post as they spin of. It helps considerably to have an electric driver. Don't force it!

Try one of these. Tack puller. Home Depot, Lowes, Ace, etc.

Those are good, but you can get a door panel clip removal tool at you FLAPS. Looks almost identical and you probably have an AutoZone/O'Reillys or such close to home.

I'd be real worried about breaking off the studs with any of the brute force puller options. These things are extremely brittle after 40 years.

I cut the old ones off with a Dremel tool and replaced them with the 914Rubber part.

Gary

I found the same thing when I tried to put the engine grills back on Mark's car. The metal hole seems to be too small and or the metal too stiff or hard. The fiber portion just explodes when you try to push it on.