I had a bit of a nightmare with a local rebuilder.  They guy
everybody said was the best around, specifically for VWs and
Vanagons.  The cost was about the same as buying one and shipping it
and my core back and forth from German Transaxle.  (and I'm in NC)  I
think it would have been about $100-200 more to have a local mechanic
do the R&R for me.  I wish I had gone that route.  The local
guy...  I don't know if he hadn't done a vanagon in a while, or is
just getting to the end of his career, it wasn't good.  Took about 4
months and I had to take it back several times.    He had trouble
finding parts for it.  I think the main problem was the valve body
and I had to tell him several times that German Transaxle had dyno
tested valve bodies and he probably needed to buy one for my
transmission.  He apparently had monkeys working on my van and there
was a fairly long list of stuff they messed up during the first round.

Being in LA, you can probably find someone more competent to do your
rebuild.  I would definitely want recent vanagon specific references
I could call.  The main advantage I was looking for with a local
rebuilder was that if I had trouble I could take the van back to them
and they would have to cover the cost of R&R and the trans repair
itself.  But in my case it turned out the place was not competent and
I had to go back over and over.  If I had it to do again I would go
with German Transaxle and either R&R it myself or pay a couple
hundred for that chore.  It's really not bad to R&R it.  I've done it
on the driveway with jacks, etc.  Also, GT will go through your final
drive as well, and my local guy didn't do anything in mine.

Edward