OBD2 and unplugged MAF

I'm not too familiar with OBD2 because I converted my car to OBD1 for datalogging purposes. Is it possible to run a 96-97 car with the MAF unplugged? I tried it on my friend's 96 TA to troubleshoot an issue but the car won't even start. It's pretty close to stock with only a Borla and K&N. I'm wondering if one of the POs tinkered with the tune and disabled speed density.

You can't disable speed density . Only enable it by turning it on. Unplugging the maf automatically puts it into speed density .

The lt1 doesn't reference ve tables when runing a maf so if your volumetric efficiency tables aren't tuned properly it will not run worth a darn