Hi guys! 
I've got a 1978 280z and after 12 years of sitting the car officially runs again!

At this point I'm unsure on the next step between trying to get the car to move under it's own power, or pulling the entire car apart and starting the metal/body work? I'm not sure if it's a smart choice to blow money on stuff I'm just going to redo after I put some systems back in.

As it sits the current throttle linkage is like seized in the intake portion that is the piece before the throttle body.  Mind you, I have not flushed or replaced the differential, tranny, or radiator fluids. 

Does anyone have some sort of recommended order of operations for the restoration? 

 

Having started the tear everything apart and fix it thing ten years ago, I would strongly vote against that. Get the car running and all the details worked out the best you can and enjoy it. Then when you do the body work, the car can go right back together after paint and be off the road for the least amount of time.

^ That's good advice, get it on the road and enjoy it a bit then start tearing into different systems one at a time.

@Patcon That's honestly great advice that I didn't think of. I was in  such a rush to try to get it done I forgot to get it to a point I could actually enjoy it first. Thanks!

I got mine when I was in HS and immediately pulled it apart. I would strongly suggest you don't do that. Keep projects manageable, and try to keep the car running and driving as much as possible. It is far easier to be motivated to work on a car that you can drive than one that you can't. 

How much metal work does it need? If it needs enough that it really needs to be blown apart to be fixed properly, I think I would just restore the rest of the car while keeping the car running, and then when it comes time to do the shell, you won't have a million things to do, and you can put it back together quickly when the work is done since the other components are already restored and simply need to be reinstalled.