My 95 Z has mostly bolt on's but the guy I bought it from removed the cat and now it runs extremely rich. The exhaust tips turn black within a few miles after cleaning them. Can the cat's be programmed out or is there any other way to lean this thing back out

 

There's not really any programming related to the cats in OBD-I. The PCM has no way to tell if they are there or not. Removing the cats will allow more unburned HC's to reach the end of the tailpipe - more carbon on the tips. It will smell rich too. If its really running excessively rich, its not related to the cats.

If its running rich, it may be due to the O2 sensors seeing a "false lean" condition. That can be caused by faulty O2 sensors, bad O2 sensor extensions, misfires and exhaust leaks before the O2 sensors. A "scan" may show if the long term fuel corrections are being artificially elevated by the bad O2 feedback.