Turn off Z-motors during print

I am looking for help with what might be an unusual request. I would like raise the print head of Lulzbot Taz 6 off of the print bed prior to staring a print. After raising the printer head I want to turnoff the Z motors so the print head will not rise any further during the print. But I want the printer to “think” it is still operating “normally.” I have no idea if any of this is possible or even how to do it. Any help or insight would be greatly appreciated.

There is a statement

#define DISABLE_Z TRUE

in Marlin to allow this behavior after a timeout (motor inactivity). If you have the Auto Bed Leveling (ABL) enabled, the Z steppers will always be enabled because the timeout will always reset since the Z motors are constantly compensating for bed leveling. If you disable ABL (and perhaps backlash comp? - not sure if that is needed) and run the command

M18 Z E

will disable the Z motors immediately. I have never tried this, but my guess is that they will stay disabled until a move command that moves Z is executed.