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See if you can find a copy of 'How to keep your Volkswagen Alive' by John Muir and have a read through.

Find an older VW (or similar) and that's the basics and a bit more. Definitely replace the fuel lines on an old VW, but otherwise drive it and let it tell you what needs doing. IMHO, fuel injection is nicer than carburetion, but you some early injection systems have a bad reputation; Bosch L-jetronic seems pretty reasonable. Some people really like carbs though, so up to you.

Lots and lots of forums, some of them helpful even.

When it's an extra car that you have for fun, you don't have as much of the 'needs to work asap' stress and you can also get one that's more questionable cosmetically to save some money.