So I decided to adjust the valves today because PO told me the needed to be and i felt like getting dirty. Anyway I know the entire procedure except one thing, as I adjust the rocker arms how would I know which one is intake and which is exhaust. I searched everywhere and the best answer i found is intake is bigger but they look the same size to me. Its also looks super dirty. is this normal or should I clean it and if i should clean it with what? Thanks,

Picture is for the 1 3 5 7 valve cover

 

ex,in,in,ex,ex,in,in,ex, Look at the valve springs, the ones in line with the intake runners are intake and the ones lined up with exhaust ports are exhaust. Why are adjusting the valves?
hydraulic lifters should not have to be adjusted once they are set.

 

Thank bas. PO rebuilt the engine and I'm just checking his work. Looks like he didn't do to good because with 1 at tdc all the valves look the same height, which from my understanding shouldn't be the case. Fml

 

In your pic the shiny retainers are the intakes.

Going by the marks on the damper is not the best procedure.
The lifters will collapse after a couple of slow rotations of the crank by hand, and that will throw off your preload adjustment. You might want to get someone more experienced with the procedure to do it or at least supervise.

Do not clean under there. You will contaminate the engine oil.

 

If theyre not ticking and the engine doesnt have any misfires, then Id just leave it. Its not a hi-po engine, so there are no worries of valve float or uneven operation from mis-adjustment.

There are two non-messy ways to adjust them. The first is the book way (see a haynes or chiltons manual) of putting the engine at #1/#6 TDC and adjusting them in groups, which is fine for a stock engine.

The second way is to adjust them in pairs, which is the preferred way since they will be correctly adjusted with the lifter fully on the base circle of the lobe, but this is a bit more involved.