valves should be adjusted with a feeler gauge. basically you put the blade of the feeler gauge that is the spec you're looking for between the top of the retainer and rocker and tighten the adjustment till you can slide the gauge between the two, but still have a bit of resistance. get it tight on the blade, but not enough to pinch it.

not sure about timing. i've only timed my car, so i dunno. you'll need a timing light and maybe a piece of chalk or something to mark your TDC point on your crank pulley. first, you want to make sure the car is at TDC (top dead center). hook up the timing light as per instructions and aim it at the crank pulley. if you hooked up the light correctly, when you pull the trigger, the light should flash every time the distributor hits the number 1 spark plug. it'll be a strobe effect and will make seeing the mark MUCH easier. now on my car, you turned the distributor either left for advance or right for retard. should be about the same thing. you'll wanna get the car into what ever timing specs it's supposed to be. you could maybe advance it 1 or 2 degrees if you wanted.

hope that helped