it was on the #1 cylinder.. but who knows what happened under that valve cover after that lash cap got loose or the force and friction caused by the damage to #1 cylinder may have been too much stress for # 3 ..im not sure yet..and wish i had the answers, but even after its apart.. with these 2 differnt issues who knows if i will ever know in what order things happened... we'll see...thanks for all the good comments and advice and directions... now, i have a "PITY JAR" set out by the road to anyone who wants to donate to the "Broken Block" fund....lol...

lash caps , hate them never run em,
just for sake of conversation , valve springs can you recheck and see if they 'layed down' on pressure??
may have floated, hit piston ??

The comments on this thread is why I like this site so well. There is alway a lot of experience with many good suggestions to solve or attempt to solve a problem. When you have this type of failure it is hard to see all of the possibliities when you are looking at all of the damage. Keep us posted as you take it apart.