almost all older honda's run rich at high rpms... thus causing a little black smoke under hard acceleration

 

i did not hold the throttle open i did not i was supposed to so i will redo i also did not take out all of the spark plugsi left them all in except one.

 

in a 96? also i figured that if i held the throttle open it would allow fuel to flow

 

It's more a longevity safety thing Honda does on a lot of their DOHC VTEC engines. By running rich, there's less chance of detonation at high RPM, which saves the engine at the expense of power. 9 times out of 10, you have to lean out the fuel curve in order to make peak power on a given DOHC VTEC engine.

Nothing to worry about really. You could probably stop some of the smoke with a new cat if you're really worried about it.

 

Compression test:
1. Remove ECU fuse from fuse box under hood.
2. Remove all spark plugs.
3. Screw compression tester into a cylinder.
4. Hold gas and clutch pedals down.
5. Crank the motor 5-6 times, take your reading.
6. Repeat.

Removing the ECU fuse prevents fuel from going in.