I have a 96 civic ex with a blown d16 and i was wondering if a d15 would work

 

A d16 is cheap enough, I'd just get a new motor. If you did d15 you'd have to convert to OBD1. You have a y8 motor right?

 

yeah, its y8 but i was told by a honda specialist that the only difference was the head, but i am still unsure.

 

The block is about the same but they are slightly different. Are you just wanting to swap blocks? What happened to your motor?

 

The block isn't the same...
ones a 1.6L and the other's a 1.5L.

Anyway, do this:
Take the D16Y8 head, stick it on the D15B7 block (with a new D16Y8 head gasket, and new head bolts). Get an OBD2a-OBD1 ECU conversion wire harness (click me), and a P28 ECU (click me for an example) (they are transmission specific. manual and auto are different ECUs). Use your current transmission.
After the procedure there may be some sensors that don't have anywhere to plug in, such as the knock sensor (D15B7 block doesn't have a place for a knock sensor), but since you're converting to OBD1 you'll be fine because the OBD1 ECU won't know the difference. Simply secure the extra sensor to something with a zip tie.

By putting the D16Y8 head on the D15B7 block, you aren't sacrificing power like you would be if you swapped the D16Y8 completely to a D15B7. This is also referred to as a "mini-me" swap.

 

I thought the mini-me was a z6 block with a y8 head. I didn't know you could use a d15 block.

 

nope
a mini-me is simply a non-VTEC block with a VTEC head

furthermore, what would be the point of a Z6 block/Y8 head? D16Z6's have VTEC originally.

 

I thought it was a better flowing head with a better cam or something. But yea i always that would be kind of dumb.

 

i think the Z6 has the better flowing head, and the Y8 has a very very slightly more aggressive cam, but not enough to notice.

 

Ok cool. Thanks for clearing that up.