I'll throw my 2 cents in, which ain't worth a nickle, but . . .
If you don't let it sit, gas with 10% or less ethanol won't do any immediate damage . . . it may cause rubber and plastic parts in the fuel system to degrade a little faster than normal . . . or maybe not. It will start going bad if it sits for a month or two . . . after about a year, you'll have to pour lighter fluid on it to get it to burn. It stinks and it's sticky. I always ran the cheapest gas I could find . . . or whatever was closest to walk to when I ran out (when you don't have an odometer, a gas gauge or a good sense of how many miles you've gone, that tends to happen a lot!) If it's stock, stick with 87 octane.
On oil, it really doesn't matter that much. I used to run HD-30 until the Godfather (look at the thread about David Johnston to learn more about him) convinced me that it was OK to run multi-viscosity. After that Castrol 20-50 was my lube of choice. The main thing is CHANGE IT often. An air-cooled VW engine does not have an oil filter. It's got a screen on the pickup tube that will keep rocks from being pulled into the oil pump, but nothing to actually filter it. Change it every 2000 miles. When you do, check your point gap. If you need to adjust it, reset your ignition timing afterwards. Never exceed 32 degrees of advance on the timing at full advance. Also, adjust your valves while you are doing all this. It's a good idea to adjust your brakes at the same interval. I know if you are new to mechanicing, it sounds complicated and labor intensive. Compared to a modern care, yeah, it's labor intensive . . . but it's not really that hard and well within the capabilities of most people to do-it-yourself . . . as long as you don't mind getting your hands dirty a for a couple of hours every two or three months.
