Fuel Injector problem..maybe

[EEYORE5182@aol.com]

As you all might know, i have been working with some fuel injectors recently,
and this is my first time dealing with them.
I bought a fuel rail off Ebay a few weeks ago...a 92 with 80K on the
injectors.  i bought new o rings, and i figured i would use these as a back
up to #1 try to pass emissions (i think my o rings are leaking on my stock
injectors with 108K on them) and to #2, use these while i send my original
injectors out to RC engineering to get cleaned and refurbished.  well, i
finally got the injectors out of the fuel rail, but now i found another
problem.
as i was cleaning the newer injectors i saw that one of them seemed to have
gotten warm, and some of the plastic has seemed to warp.  starting at the end
of the injector (with the cap that everyone says to be careful not to break)
then there is the small o-ring, and the next thing in line is a little
plastic band that has little rectangle openings in it.  well, on this one
injector, it seems like this plastic ring got a little hot, and some of the
rectangle openings collapsed in a bit.  I took a small screwdriver and kinda
pushed out the plastic so it looks close to normal, but i wanted to know if
this damage meant that the injector was no good, or not safe to used.  AS I
SEE IT (i know, famous last words) that since its behind the o-ring, and i
don't *think* it has anything to do with fuel getting into the motor, it
should be fine..but i don't know much about these things..besides the fact
that they are a PITA to get out of the rail, you can't mess up the end caps,
they get dirty, and the o-rings go bad.  anyone got an answer? Thanks!

Alex
'93 NX2k