Recommended reading for beginner interested in modifying vehicle with robotics

[resjudicata]

A friend with pretty good mechanical, albeit amateur, abilities wants to modify a vehicle. It could be standard car, a bus or golf cart. It's up in the air. It's going to be a mobile and interactive art piece. For example, it could be an octopus with moving arms or a dragon that shoots fire. The exact vehicle and project is not yet isolated.

That said, what books, ebooks, blogs etc. do you recommend for him to get to start grasping with what it takes to accomplish such a task? I'm sure there is a lot of improvisation and not much in the way published on making golf carts into octopi that squirt ink.

Just want to give you the flavor of what he's looking for. And I'd like to buy him some materials that are informative for this project.

Thanks!

[jwatte]

I'd suggest take some MIG welding classes and some machining (lathe and mill) classes. Probably need some easy way to cut stuff, too, such as Oxy torch or plasma or whatever.
Then take a trip to the hardware/supply store to learn what kinds of bolts, grommets, nuts, brackets, and other goodness exists, and another to the metal vendor to learn the different kinds of steel and aluminum tubing, piping, plates, sheets, and other raw materials are available.
Also, if this is low-cost, look at scrapyards and similar places.