Smoked some wires today

You guys can theorize all you want but there is only one way to find these shorts, and that is to unwrap the harness and look for them. "Back in the day" a dealer mechanic would have replaced them.

OP you are right about one thing, the ignition switch. the contact pieces can get loose and 'waltz around' in the switch, causing interesting problems

If that part of the problem is stable, IE not too intermittent, that specifically can be quickly checked with an ohmeter / continuity checker, with the switch disconnected