furthermore the sleeve openings 116 are tapered having an outer face with a diameter larger than that of the locking pin 112 and tapering inwardly to an inner face having a diameter that closely matches the locking pin 112 the tapering produces an inner face that lies within the body of the base portion 104 this tapered feature provides several advantages one of which is that the large diameter of the sleeve 39 s outer face makes insertion of the locking pin 112 into the sleeve 110 much easier especially considering that the sleeve openings 116 are offset from the fuel injector assembly openings 114 also the principal forces acting at the connection between the sleeve 110 and locking pin 112 are shear forces by using the tapered openings the shear forces acting on the outer face of the sleeve openings 116 are moved into the interior of the body of the base 104 to the inner face of the sleeve opening 116 this being the contact point between the locking pin 112 and the sleeve 110 this is advantageous because the sidewalls 105 of the base portion are the locations that are most susceptible to cracking or failure due to shear forces by moving the contact point between the locking pin 112 and the sleeve 110 inward those shear forces are moved inside of the base 104 where failure is less likely to occur additionally because the sleeve openings 116 are offset from the fuel injector openings 114 the insertion of the locking pin 112 into the sleeve 110 causes the locking pin 112 to curve slightly as best shown in fig5 the curve is produced by the.