Valve adjustment

[spy1309]

I just got a 2000 Chevy Metro 1.3l , 80k miles, with automatic transmision for a nice price , the problem is that the ex owners were missing alot of maintenance on it.
I ve flushed the engine , put in syntethic oil, new transmision filter with new oil, new air filter ( never changed in the life of the vehicle till now), new spark plugs also never changed .
So far the car runs like a champ besides the acute need of an extra speed on the 3 speed auto transmission.
The only problem is that the valve train is kind of noisy and requires adjustment .
I did valve adjustment on my ex Kawasaki Ninja motorcycle but was quite different than the one in the Metro.
I am kind of confused how I should do it because besides the valve gap the rocker arms I think need some adjustment to given the small gap they have to with the camshaft lobes.
So to make the story short can somebody shed some light how to do it given that I have 2 clearances now rocker arm to camshaft lobe and rocker arm to valve head, also there s no scoring or sign of wear on the cam lobes to justify the slack with the rocker arms.
Do rocker arms need a small gap between them and camshaft lobe or they have to follow the camshaft with no space in between them?
Thank you in advance for your ideeas.

[99Metro]

I'm pretty sure the hydraulic lifters are not adjustable. Didn't know they had rocker arms on the 2000 model - perhaps you have an older engine in it that does have rocker arms. And pretty sure that the cam lobes don't follow the lifter, otherwise they would be partially open. There should be a small gap, but not sure how many thousandths. Should be in the Haynes book. Someone told me that some noise just means they are closing real good. I'd pop the oil fill cap off and check for splash while the engine is running, and maybe put in a mechanical oil pressure gage to make sure your oil pressure is ok.

[spy1309]

2000 Metro 1.3 16v does not have hidraulic lifters adjusters.
Somebody else any ideea?

[99Metro]

Sorry, thought you mentioned rocker arms.

[spy1309]

Geosuzuki any ideeas? you should now