But....there WAS oil in the pan? I would be less concerned with heating a pan full of oil than one empty and full of fumes. Liquid gasoline will quench a match.
Have some extinguishers on hand! Stick a shop vac on a valve cover hole prior to lighting it up with a torch. Maybe just use a heat gun?
If you get a bit of space between the two, how about gluing a piece of gasket material (something relatively hard and thick) to the pan at that point; kind of a heat shield.
I did that. The 'effectiveness' may have only been in my head...but I did feel better about it.
