i had a full set of sewing needles of different diametres and hooks. none of this worked. most of them wouldnt even fit inside the restrictor, and the ones which did were too narrow to apply any force. spent about 30mins trying this with no success what so ever. and also it started raining so i was faced with the choice of quickly putting the car back together or take a break for the rain to die down. waited it out and then like i said, got a little file and started attacking the restrictor from the outside, thru the plastic nossle. eveyrthing is so soft and small it doesnt take much effort to carve a nice little groove thru the nossle and into the restrictor. then got a mini screw driver (tweesers would work also) and popped it out using the groove as leverage. this approach only took me 10 mins. defiantly recommended. just be careful with the file.