I am going up to portland and im buying a block and head form a guy on this board just to protect myself I would like to know how to tell the diff. on heads or if there is a way of doing this? Thanks.

 

you can tell by looking at the date stamp
it should be located near the exhaust port..

88-91 would be 1st gen
92-95 would be 2nd gen b16a2
96+ would be 3rd gen b16a3

2nd and 3rd gen have about 10 more HP from the more agressive cam profile.
you cant tell if its from an MT or AT setup tho..

 

I believe that if you look at the little piece that goes between the Vtec solonoid and the distributor, you'll see a little number. If it says "30", that means you have a 2nd gen or a B16A2 head. If it doesn't say anything, that means it's a first gen head.

You can also look at the date stamp:
First gen: 88-91
2nd gen: 92-00
B16A2: 99-00
B16A3: 94-95

And I believe that they second gen motors recieved that extra HP from the bump in compression.

 

subtract 1 year from each of those (92-00 would be 91-99)
most of the engines were produced a year before they were sold.