'89 corsica no start- after remove broken lock

[randall22]

My 89 Corsica 4 cyl has 306,000 original miles on it, it's run well since I bought it 5 years ago with only a few minor annoyance type defects that needed repair- headlight switch, ball joints, muffler, tires, that sort of thing.
I paid $100 for the car and I guess got 12,000 miles out of it over the last 5 years so I sure can't complain

It's never had any major work on the engine, but the former owner who bought it in '90 almost new changed the oil every 2,000 miles and used it mostly highway 120 mile commute a day to work and home. The A/C doesnt work but I don't care about that.

I've always expected the engine would up and die at any time with bearing failure or timing gear breakage with that many miles, but it doesn't burn oil or smoke, it does have a coolent leak into the oil now (stopped for now with sealer) but my problem right now is I went to the store and couldn't shut the engine off, the key switch felt like it wasn't engaging inside the column. I wound up disconnecting the battery to shut it off when I got home

I had no steering wheel puller and out here in the boonies there isn't much of anything so it's a case of yer on yer own, no book and not much else that I found last night on line either, soooo.... planning to junk or the car for $100 for parts when I finish rebuilding my Honda Civic this summer, I just needed to fix the immediate problem without the right tools, no manual and just wound up man-handling the lock out of the column with a hammer and crow bar. That's when I found this wierd arrangement of a linkage from the switch.

Anyway, I managed to get to the point where I could push the linkage down and feel it "click" and the dash lights go on etc, then a little more and the starter kicks in, great, only problem is now it won't start. I dropped the column down as far as it would go and pushed on the connector blocks on the switch, still nothing. I can smell gas like it's flooding so I'm thinking something in the switch is not connecting right or could it be pulling the battery wire off while running somehow damaged something like the computer?

Anyway I can just hot wire it so it will start and run? I only need the thing to last a couple or three months around town mostly, even a push button and toggle switch will do. If so what wire is what? there looks to be like a dozen wires in that switch unlike the older cars Ive had that had to be hotwired.