Captain Obvious

As far as I can tell, the 78 did not use a temperature switch like that. According to the documentation, the 76 was the last year for such a device. I wonder if you PO swapped parts around. Maybe a replacement motor? Maybe a replacement thermostat housing? Can you pop the distributor cap off and take a pic of the guts inside the distributor?

Wow, thats a LOT of beer! I know who I'm gonna call when I'm in the area! And I wouldn't be surprised if the Heineken you have there is better than the Heineken you export.

Oh, and@SteveJ Might I humbly suggest: Step 0 - Disconnect the battery

The original system is considered a closed system. By "closed" they mean that there are no running conditions under which the crankcase vapors are released out into the atmosphere. PCV theory says that pressure escaping out of the valve cover nipple would only occur under high blow-by conditions. And in a healthy engine, that would only occur at high throttle high load conditions. If that's the case, your carbs are sucking a lot of air and anything that gets pushed out into the air cleaner box turns around and gets sucked into the carbs and is burned in the engine. PCV theory also says that under low blow-by conditions the crankcase vapors are pulled into the intake manifold through the PCV valve. The vapors never escape out into the atmosphere, and hence is a "closed system". If you're running one of those little air filtery thingies on your valve cover nipple, then its not a closed system anymore. If you're running catch cans with little filters on them, it's not a closed system anymore.

In the spirit of "it's probably related to the last thing you messed with"... Didn't you recently mess with the B/W wires over at the ballast resistor and at the stock ignition box? If so, I suspect you've got a short to ground on one of the B/W wires. Why do I say that? Because a) You messed with them right before this latest problem started, and b) those B/W wires go hot when the ignition key goes to the ON position. If one of them is connected to ground somehow, you'll pop the front inboard fusible link. Just a thought without a lot of research.

Wow. I can hear the value of my 280 going up as I type!!

The later year Z's came with a support brace back there in the hatch. I don't know what year they started though.

Thanks for the link. Good info in that.

Well I'm not completely comfortable without a smoking gun, but regardless... Glad you got your brakes working and you're back on the road!

Haha!! I learned that same trick from a neighbor kid with similar mower model. Thankfully, ours survived the brief higher RPM jaunts without the boom. We used to race against eachother in his driveway when all the parents were away.

I learned to take engines apart by taking apart our lawnmower. Boy was my dad pisssed.

Well wadda you know... There's even a wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_electronic_color_code_mnemonics And there's even a category for "Offensive - The following historical mnemonics are generally considered outdated and should not be used in current electronics training:" That works for me... I don't think I'm going to be teaching any classes anytime soon.

Hahaha!! Yeah, I saw the speedo was dead too. I was gonna comment about that and ask if you disconnected it on purpose. "Not sure - Speedo doesn't work" is a perfectly acceptable answer. And by the way... Engine sounds great at 5K.

I keep hearing that. Do you know the source for that sentiment? The original source?

Remind me next time we're together. I had an honest to goodnes real live "this one goes to 11" moment at a Zcon. I think it was Atlanta at the people's choice show. Remind me and I'll tell you about it.

Excellent!! I love the video. And the editing. I know you probably didn't intend it to come off this way, but I see: "Happy guy pulls his Z out of the garage all nice and gentle like. Drives like Grandma down to the end of his street. Once out of sight of his house (and the camera), he gives the car a proper high RPM thrashing! After enjoying the crap out of himself, he pulls back down his street slowly and carefully just like Grandma, thinking nobody's the wiser." That's what I get. LOL!! I also love the giggling at the beginning. Whoever was taking that part of the video knew you were having a great time and was very happy for you!

I got lucky and without a huge amount of digging, I found the thread I was thinking about. It was Blue. https://www.classiczcars.com/forums/topic/40433-su-mod-sealing-worn-throttle-bushings/

You're not talking about cutting internal O-ring grooves into the (bushing that's pressed into the) carb body, are you? If so, call me and I'll do my best to talk you out of that. If that's not what you meant... I've seen a couple simple seal versions. First is on the round tops... The outboard ends can be capped off completely. Only the inboard ends need some sort of rotational seal. And someone many moons ago did a simple "crushed O-ring" compressed up against the outside of the carb body. (@Blue @240260280 maybe)

I've done several throttle shafts with O-rings. @Jarvo2, Have you got any good pics of what ZT does? I've never seen one of their seals.

You're in good hands with the technical aspects of this, but I just wanted to pop in and say that I love the pic of the exploded coil. I mean, I'm not happy that your coil exploded, but you sure weren't exaggerating! That's an exploded coil! Not the kind of thing you see everyday!

Great work! Has anyone else in the family seen it run yet? Or would the noise be off-putting?

Hahaha!!! I'm just happy that someone got the reference at all! Don't beat yourself up!!!

There's a newer cleaner version of that. I've tried to make it work for me, but it just won't stick. I always revert to that old school version. And yes... I'm not color blind, but I bet when everything is brown, brown, lighter brown, tan, darker brown it makes it hard to figure out what goes where!

So you can test it by having it shock you to see if it's working. And if it's blowed up, it's probably NOT working. Mental notes. Got it.

I heard it run!!! Woo Hoo!! Congrats!! You're doing great! Beer!