No power to the column

[jeffinpgh]

I'm stumped... my 1986 c/g30 Chevy Fleetwood Arrow was running fine and all of a sudden (after I shut it off & wanted to start it 10 minutes later) I had no power. No power to the column. I turn the key in either direction & get nothing... no radio, no blower, no gauge movement, & no start. I replaced the ignition switch last night & still nothing. What would cause this... everything else works, headlights, brake lights, interior courtesy light...
Is there any relays/solenoids that powers up (keeps everything hot) everything BEFORE the key? What fuses should I be replacing if that may be the case & where are they? Would the coil (on top of the cap) do this if it fried itself? Alternator fried? Resistors? I just cant figure out why I'm not getting power.
Second question... can anyone explain in good detail, how would i go about creating a proper hot switch & start button combo to at least get this thing started so I can get it to a shop to be looked at further.
support much appreciated

[j-d]

Could be lots of things. There's a "bulkhead connector." It's on the firewall and connects the Engine Compartment Wiring Harness to the Interior (behind Dashboard) Wiring Harness. Used to be common for the terminal connections to fail. The fix was to drill the firewall and run a jumper around the connection, which usually was a "main line" to something like the ignition/starter switch. There are sometimes Fusible Links on the engine compartment side that can go open.
How are your Battery Connections? If there are more wires than just the main Cable, are they ALL properly connected and clean?