couple questions.

[Fox17]

my friend has a old honda cb750 custom (i believe its a 81 or right around there). it makes a ticking sound like the valves are off and the starter is messed up. im pretty sure the starter is a easy replacement but im not sure if we can do the valve adjustment. is it hard to do or is it relatively easy? im assuming you need new head gaskets and whatever other ones we remove but is there anything else we need to buy?

[TRX450R_Racer]

You will need a feeler guage at the very least. Maybe a valve cover gasket, not head gasket. Some times the valve cover gasket is rubber and reusable. On something that old you should order a new one.

[Fox17]

ok i can get a gasket and i have the feeler gauges. he said we can take it apart and try to figure it out. he doesnt really care if it gets messed up cause he doesnt have $ to fix it and it really isnt worth anything. would it mess it up if it was ridden with them a little off?

[KB]

Try to get you a book on it off the internet, it won't help you today but maybe in the long run, valve adjustment shouldn't be too hard. probably find a write up/how to about it online.
do a search on Honda CB message forum & see what comes up.