libb's out line of a rebuild is fairly thorough, a $400 kit wont cover 1/4 of his 'definition' of a rebuild,heheh, shop around for good prices on parts. in the US you can google 'vw diesel parts', and come up with a list, autohausaz is one of my(our) best parts sources, theyre drying up lately, so get them while you can, for most normal things theres still stock. i get name brand parts for almost everything, if not all, like trw valves, the meyle pistons i got are 'cheaper', but they are european, perhaps they are german as the box said, they will last 10 or more years, dont figure i ll get too many more years out of my girls(10-15). one of the things libb outlined in his rebuild 'kit' is going to be the need for special tools, like for intermediate bearings, youll need a press out&in and may need a shop for those, among other things.
the suspension may be similar to a T2 van/bus. i had a couple, one was a T2, that was with a typeI motor, they figured out all that size&weight was pushing the magnesium case all over the place, when they went later to the T4 motor, aluminum case, it worked out. same motor went into the porsche 914&912, and T4's. 1.7,1.8,&2.0 T4 motor. but what i wanted to outline is the suspension and brakes. at tirerack they still have bilsteins for mk1s&2s. so you can look up a set for your T3 camper, affordable and good. the T2 bus had an easy suspension not too dissimilar to a bug, only beefier, working on it was not difficult. a couple of stands (or 4)a good jack, a couple of blocks of wood, and your ready to start; well you need some of the right tools to get to the next level. id rebuild the suspensions front and rear, and brakes. a good few parts and not cheap (for all the parts), but well worth the work&investment. thats stuff like all rubber bushings for front/rear, wheel bearings, prob calipers and rotors & rear work. i get those stainless flexible brake lines, if i can get the old rubber ones off, cannt always get old ones off. plenty of other parts to get, ball joints, tie rod ends, roll bar rubbers, good rubbers (i prefer new)before an alignment, i get a 4 wheel align once in a while. for the rears it takes shims for the adjustment, that rear adjustment should last for years, then just check on the machine and align the front(when you do it again).