Well as for he shroud that's the way I bought it. The PO was going to "fix" it, took it apart, decided it was beyond his abilities(I guess), put it in the corner of his garage, and bought another one. Then listed this on on craigslist, and I bought it.
As for valve clearance, a quick wiggle of the rockers can tell alot. When I wiggle the rocker and it has 1/2" of clearance there is a problem. I set the valves on my Xingyue using the wiggle test, then checked the clearance with a feeler and it was just right(.004" on the intake, .005" on the exhaust)believe it or not. No brag, just fact. The correct clearance can actually be calculated via turns on the screw(threds per inch times amount of turns, or in this case amount of turn being about a quarter of a turn for .004", and one third of a turn for .005"). After setting the clearance, usually I do verify with a feeler gauge.