ignition issues (S14 - KA)

[Rasta-s14]

recently my car (95-S14, stock KA) decided not to start.

it worked fine, i went to a friends house then two hours later it decided not to start. fast forward to now, i had the starter checked and that was dead. so i bought a new one and installed it, same issue. No crank, no noise, nothing. but everything has power. (windows, radio, CEL check, lights, dash lights..ETC..) we were able to push start it, so thats a good sign. (yes?)

whipped out the DVOM, and started taking voltages. mostly along the ignition circuit. the relay is good. check.

ignition (from the turn-key) to the relay/fuse box has power (it was ~11v).

ignition (from the starter to relay/fusebox) had 1v. bad wire-correct?

now this is where im confused/stumped. i traced a wire back to where it plugs into the fusebox...the gray connector that has a 1/4in thick gray wire coming from it, the connection was half melted...weird.







but the ignition wire it self is black W/yellow stripe. i traced that wire back to the connector at the fusebox (from the starter connection) and it is good (the connector it self).

any ideas what could be the issue?