LOL, Speed Sensor, What's that??? On the 80 Pontiac Wagon and on the 81 Buick Regal the speedometer cable runs through the cruise control unit!

I'm not sure what the speed sensor is, but on the newer cars the speedometer works electronically. If your battery is low of charge then your speedometer doesn't work correctly. I am guessing that it is an electronic sensor that feeds the information to the ECU.

A quick googling for VSS info returns pretty much what you'd expect:
https://autorepair.about.com/library/faqs/bl600g.htm
https://z.about.com/d/autorepair/1/0/T/3/79086182.gif

Ummm, thanks for the really good answers, but I was joking when I asked what a VSS is. Anyway, the late 70's/early 80's GM V6 & V8 cruise controls operated with the speedo cable running through the cruise control unit. There's a great pic of the cruise unit on TheHolyCow's 1980 Buick LeSabre here: https://picasaweb.google.com/ronanian...37319228846530 (Hope you don't mind me linking to your pic)Its the same cruise unit that is in my Buick. You can see the speedo cable going in and out on the right, and you can see that brass bushing with the hex sides on the top vacuum line, right where it enters the cruise unit. Turning that bushing right and left adjusted the sensitivity of the unit.

-Jay

Heheh. I knew you were joking, but then I wasn't sure if Ford Man was or not.

I certainly don't mind the link.

In fact, the reason I had that there was because I wondered what that thing was. I assumed the cruise would be near the carburetor, not on the wheelwell. Thanks! :D

I have almost acheived guru status with early 80's GM setups. I can even tell you just by looking at the unit that you only have a set button on the end of your turn signal to set the cruise. It looks like you do not have a resume feature on your car, but you do have a light on your dash that comes on when the cruise control is on. I grew up with my dad working on our 1980 Pontiac Bonneville wagon, I even learned to drive on that car. When my grandmother died I was set to inherit her 1984 Buick Skyhawk (The Buick version of the Chevy Cavalier at the time). It was a nice garage kept car, but I have long legs. My sister was complaining that this 1981 Regal she had bought a few months earlier was using too much gas so when I got the title to grandma's car it was only in my hands for a few seconds before I traded it with my sister. THe 81 Regal with the 3.8 V6 is a real bastard unit. It was the first year of computer control. GM tried this thing with a computer controlled carb, but it didn't work well, and its a pain to find someone who knows how to work on it now. I think they only made that setup for about a year and a half before they said screw it, we're putting fuel injection in them. Now when the car needs service I whip out my 1981 Buick service manuals and start reading. I don't need to read as much anymore as I've made almost every adjustment that can be made on the car in the 18 years I've owned it.