This past Saturday, Mike Mueller came over and helped me with trying to getting through some electrical issues and his help was much appreciated. we were able to identify

The current problem is when the battery positive side is attached everything lights up on the dash and without the key in the ignition. With key in ignition the starter will engage but that's it.

The large lighted area above the speedo flashes.

Not sure where to start looking any and all suggestions welcomed. Nuts and bolts I'm fine with just not wo good with electrical issues

First step:

The Battery positive terminal should have at least three wires hooked to it.

Take that connection apart (now is a good time to clean that area).

Then connect one wire at a time and see which one causes the dash to light up.

1st thing to do is check all the grounds, including the ground strap from the transmission, battery, and under the dash.

What kind of shape is the battery and starter?

Looks like you mixed some live and switched power supplies between battery and fuse box. You need a wiring diagram and need to know how to read it. There's one on the Pelican site.

The blinking red light is the brake pressure/e-brake light. It will blink if the e-brake is pulled or if the low pressure switch is set on the master cylinder.

I left him my Haynes manual and briefly explained how to read the current flow diagrams.

He does have some extra relays under the dash that might be parts left over from an aftermarket alarm.(one could be for the power antenna now that I think of it) We did pull some extra wires out from the front trunk that the PO spliced into the fuse box.

I brought over my 22x18" diagrams for a '73, however I took those back home with me.