has anyone from the "flip it and slam it" crowd ever replaced the stock dust cap on their headset with a different shorter one or even one with no height on it at all? If you have where did you acquire your goody?

Most of the time these are somewhat specific to the bike you have (every integrated headset is different). I would see your LBS and ask. Many brands supply shorter ones for specific models and the LBS can get them (or may have them in stock already). Alternatively, you can lookup what model the headset is and call the manufacturer to ask about compatibility, then try to track down the piece. Often you need to buy the whole top half of the headset when doing it this way though.

Headsets don't have 'dust caps'.

There are races, bearings, spacers and top caps. I assume you are looking for a top cap. Those can easily be replaced.

Posting a picture of what you want to replace would be helpful.

Yes, I replaced the top cap (I've also seen them called dust cap/volcano spacer) on my S2 soon after I got it. Cervelo supplies a pretty tall one on their bikes (15mm I think), and I wanted to get lower than that, so I went down to an 8mm. It did require me to buy a new complete headset (FSA), but that's not a big deal, I'll just save the headset for when one on my bikes needs replacing.

I recently bought a Cane Creek IS headset for my caad9. They offer it with a short and tall top cap size. I went with the short one and I am very happy I did.

There might be some general compatibility issues by mixing and matching brands. You have to take into consideration the inner angle of the top bearing and how it mates with the top bearing race. For example, Cane Creek doesn't use a 45/45 (outside and inside) degree angle bearing. They use some random inside angle for the bearing races. Also, Cane Creek has the top bearing race build into the top cap. To ensure compatibility it's probably best to replace the entire upper assembly all at once (bearing, race, top cap).

In addition to Cane Creek, I know FSA makes them and a bunch of other brands that can be found on eBay. A lot of them are actually bmx brands, but it seems that they use the same headset standards as road bikes these days.

What the heck are you guys talking about?

Changing a top cap or a spacer should not require changing a headset unless there is some proprietary wierdness going on.

Are you talking about a cap that fits over the bearings and under the spacers? Some of those have a seal in the bearing side of the cap and can be quite tall.

If so, roll into a shop. They should have a drawer of various headset parts and you should be able to find one that works.

Edit: I see what you are talking about now. As mentioned, if you have a race built into the cap you need to be mindful of the bearing/race angles.

The light bulb finally came on, eh?