valve adjustment for a mojave 01

I finally got the mojave back that I co-signed for my cousin and to say the least, he didnt take care of it. I am in the porcess of adjusting the valves and I got the book for it, but I am still having porblems. I have the valve cover pulled and the piston is at TDC. I am having problems with knowing exactly where to take the valve clearance measurement. The book says between the valve stem and the end of the adjuster screw. The clearance should be about .008-.009. I am just having problems locating them. Any help would be great. The reason I decided to do this is because I know he never would of done it and it was making a horrible knocking noise when I got it started and the harder I ran it the louder it got. Should I check anything else?