35fountain

When I bought my boat it already had nose cones on the bravo1 outdrives. The port drive always had an issue where the water was somehow getting between the putty and the casing causing the putty to soften and break off. I had it professionally fixed once. It did not last long. The nose cone must be off center a touch. So I started using marine tex to fill in the pieces of putty that had broke off at different areas. That worked for years until this year. Last week I noticed a large portion of putty missing off the outer side of the port drive. I was always told to get rid of the nose cones because they are slowing me down so I decided to remove the soften putty. After removing the putty I was down to where the nose cone sits on the drive. I didn't see any gaps where water can go between the drive and the cone. My question is: how do I remove these cones? Are they tack welded on or it epoxy only? What is the best way of removing them without causing any drive damage?
thanks in advance