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Check to see if the cables are screwed into the Cruise control firmly.
Undo the short cable from the cruise control and put an electric (battery) drill onto the square end of the cable. Have your significant other sit in the drv seat.
Set the drill to turn in the CORRECT DIRECTION...matching the sweep of the needle. (counterclockwise I believe)
Turn on drill.
Is it working?
If it is....then its probably the long cable from the tranny. The tranny gears rarely go.
Checking the Other end at the tranny is an *** pain. the cross member is in the way.
Getting up under the dash to check if the cable has fallen out of the speedo housing requires triple-jointed wrists!
In 1978 you could order cruise but only for an automatic. Not if you were getting a manual transmission that year.
This is what the back of the speedometer looks like if you need to remove the cable. Press on the clip and pull the cable out.. As stated difficult working under there.
I found it easier to loosen the speedo housing from the dash and tip it forward onto the column. Thankfully only had to get in there once, 15 years ago.
Don't mess up that clip, 43 year old clips tend to be brittle.
So, if you don't have cruise, disconnect it from the transmission, chuck it in your drill and run it counterclockwise, is the correct direction as eluded to above. If if doesn't move, then I'd check to see if it's connected to the back of the speedometer. If you pull the l vent duct from the center stack to the left vent, getting to the back of the speedo isn't that bad, and at least on my 79, pulling the duct is a 5 second job.
