rocker arms

Before the car would crank but not start. so i decided to tear it down a bit

I was replacing lower intake gaskets on a 1996 chevy lumina 3100 and never completly removed the pushrods so they would not get mixed up. now when i got to tightten them one of the rockers are tight but is not snug down on the valve spring. Could this indicate a valve problem? Im almost sure that i didnt mix up the valve stems.

you either mixed the pushrods up somehow, or the threads where the rocker arm bolt goes into the head is messed up. There is an outside chance that you have a collapsed lifter (did the engine have a bad tick before you tore it down?) but I'd bet you have a pushrod in the wrong spot. Do you see another rocker arm that is at a different angle (pointing more upward) than the rest? If so, that's the one where you have the long pushrod where a short one goes.