Cam-cap cracked...how bad is this? *Pic's ->

A gentleman just sent me these pic's of a set of PI heads he's wanting to sell. The latter-style cam-cap/girdle is cracked. What would've caused this? I don't see any damage to the cam or valvetrain in that area so the damage was most likely caused while the valve covers were off, or after the head was removed from the car, eh...? What does this mean to the rest of the head (ie: could there be more unseen damage to the head casting)? Can the cam-cap/girdle be easily replaced? I have a spare set of non-PI heads. Can I steal one from the non-PI heads? I plan on swapping cams and valve-springs out of the PI heads. What do you guys think -> Head is trashed or its probably fine?

RandyStinchcomb said:

the caps are NOT serviced and are machined for each head, so you cannot just remove one from one head and bolt onto another unless you take it to a machine shop and have it re-bored.
what coulds cause this? piston to valve issues, broken valve spring, broken valve guide, nytrous back-fire, improberly installed cam or improperly torqued bolt(s)

Click to expand...

Thank you very much, Randy. I was hoping you'd post.