Tubeless tyres have a butyl coating on the inside to make them airtight, they also have a tighter fit on the rim and the bead is squarer and designed to lock onto the square hook design of tubeless rims, tubeless rims also have an internal profile designed to help get the tubeless tyres on and lock into place. Non tubeless tyres won't work without sealant because the sidewalls are too porous.
So basically you might be able to get it to work with tubeless tyres and no sealant, but it depends on how well the beads seals against the hook of the rim and it won't be fully retro as it seems there were no tubeless tyres until after 1997 as far as i am aware.