Thermostat housing 2000 Ford Focus SOHC mounting problems?

I ve rarely worked on Fords and this has got be barreled. The plastic thermostat housing was cracked on a 2000 Ford Focus that I m working on. Went to Autozones for a replacement and noticed that the 3 metal mounting sleeves, on the housing, were loose and 2 of them literally can just slide off by turning it over. I also noticed that these sleeves are longer than the body of the housing. So basically, if I were to put the screws in to mount this housing, and start tightening, the sleeve gets pushed in. This is creating the housing to be pushed away from the surface that it needs to be mounted to. Should I just go ahead and grind down the metal sleeves? It seems just a poor design for a part that is under pressure with a heated liquid. Any help or tricks on what to do is greatly appreciated.

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