Idle air control valve question
 

It's February.
It's 22 degrees fahrenheit in my driveway.
I'm on the home stretch putting everything back together on headgasket #2 project. M54.
The Idle Air Control valve supposedly just presses into the rubber elbow in the intake manifold. Maybe so on a warm Summer day like last time.
I had a quartz work light shining on the area for half an hour but couldn't get the valve to go where it's supposed to live.
I'm hesitant to get out the heat gun considering the combustibles that reside in the area.
Any ideas?

Not a heat gun but a hairdryer. I don't think the hot air from a hairdryer is high enough to cause a combustion.

Try some silicone spray.

AGS SIL-Glyde Multi-Purpose All-Weather Lubricating Compound

You know where you read the line in the Bentley Manual "installation is the reverse of removal"?
In this instance that is not the case. When i took the ICV out the elbow stayed in the manifold. After freezing my brain and other body parts yesterday, I gave things a rest over night. In daylight and after checking a couple youtube videos, I noticed someone took out the ICV and got the elbow out in the same move. With nothing to lose, I put the lamp back down there for a bit and was able to squash the elbow some and got it to come out.
Using my trusty, "I swear by the stuff", tube of Syl-Glide, I was able to wiggle the ICV back into the opening. Mission accomplished and got the rest of the intake back on.