OK, so I got a 83 280zx 137,000k on it this past weekend. it had been sitting since 1992, needed a fuel pump, anyway I changed all the fluids and drove it around 10 miles yesterday, everything was great. I start it up this afternoon, and sounds like it's knocking/ticking really loud. So I pulled off the valve cover and one of the rocker arms came out of that little slotted nipple on top valve spring, and the rocker arm was angled barely riding on top the little slotted thing, and the slotted thing was rotated 180 degrees. And another rocker arm the little slotted thing was missing(which I saw laying on the head) but the rocker was still in it's correct position. Any I idea how all this happened? And does anybody know how in detail to adjust this stuff?

P.S. I got it all back together so it's in it's proper locations and the knock is gone but , I don't know how to adjust this stuff.

Also feel free to ring me if you like 419-439-1528 THANK YOU!!!!

After so long since it hasn't run,the valves stuck down and the stuff came off the valve end. If you are EXTREEMLY lucky , you might not have bent the valves or punched a hole in a piston. This is why we recommend pouring oil over the valve train before turning the engine over with a wrench on the crank pulley several times.

Any time these engines are turned off there is always two cylinders exposed to the out side atmosphere, plus the valve stems are exposed in the intake and exhaust ports. If they rust even slightly they can stick.

Ok so how do I know if I bent a valve or poked a hole in the piston, and how do I adjust it?

If you had a hole in the piston, it would be pretty obvious, it'd skip bad and and have a lot of blowby (pressure in the crankcase) and probably smoke too.

Let's just assume that the piston pushed the valve gently back into position:classic:

Valve clearance info: -