Bad column?

[68Stepbed]

So, last year, my son picked up an 84 C10. As we purchased it, it had a faulty ignition. The PO assumed it needed a new ignition cylinder. I replaced the cylinder, but it still didn't work. After purchasing another column, it fired right up.

Fast forward to today. After the 350 died a couple months ago, he's doing a 4.8L/ NV3500 swap. We hunted down the almost impossible to find hydraulic clutch pedal assembly, and a manual trans column. We finally got all the wiring done and hooked up, but now the ignition won't work. We've double and triple checked everything, and a faulty ignition cylinder or possible bad column may be the culprit again.

What would case a steering columns internals to go bad to cause an ignition failure?