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I'm a bit confused about how the mechanic is working with the latest update. (Just returning to the game after several years away.) It seems certain that the rules are different from what is in the manual (e.g. HQ's can still do it if they have moved), but I'm a bit scared to do it because I'm worried some combat units attached to the corps HQ I want to build up will not actually benefit.

When I click on the "buildup" button in the corps HQ screen, I get a confirmation prompt that tells me "Combat Units: 1". Does this mean that only one unit will see the effects of the buildup, despite there being three attached to the corps HQ? There are other corps HQ's I can try the "buildup" button with, where the confirmation prompt says "Combat Units: 3" or some number equal to the number of attached combat units.

The manual says that units attached to an HQ that has done a buildup will not draw any supply or replacements in the subsequent logistics segment. So could I actually have units that don't see the immediate benefit of a buildup that will not actually draw any supply for the turn?

Another thing I noticed when I did an experiment with building up: units seem to not be getting the "instant" benefit that the manual says a buildup will confer. For example, I tried building up a panzer corps HQ but noticed that the fuel levels had not changed at all in any of its attached units, despite all of them sitting below the 50% mark for gas.

You should download the condensed rules manual from here. It's not 100% up to date (1.08.09 vs 1.09.02) but it's a hell of a lot better than the now often useless official manual.

In short, HQ buildup is almost completely different now. Any HQ can do it as long as it has at least one movement point left and is not overloaded (for obvious reasons...). All units attached to it that have at least 25% of their MP remaining and are within range will be affected by the buildup. When you clicked on your HQs and some said 1 unit and others 3, some of those corps must have had units either out of range or without enough MP. Unlike before, there is no immediate cost in damaged or destroyed vehicles and all remaining MP are removed from the affected units.

Basically during the logistics phase they now get a higher priority for supplies, with halved penalties (from leaders and the rail multiplier etc), but at the cost of doubled truck usage and fuel usage. They will generally always therefore fill up well above 100% of their needs and also benefit from halved penalties on leader checks for their MP, so they will probably also have most of those. The HQ also tends to stock up a fair amount of dumps too. In return, you will damage quite a few trucks, but not like before. Now the function is part of the normal logistics system and more or less works by giving a high priority to the affected HQ. In other words, it's a bonafide, good old fashioned hack.

ORIGINAL: RoflCopter4
In short, HQ buildup is almost completely different now. Any HQ can do it as long as it has at least one movement point left and is not overloaded (for obvious reasons...). All units attached to it that have at least 25% of their MP remaining and are within range will be affected by the buildup.

Actually the HQ needs to have 25% of the MPs left also! So that's 13MPs at the minimum, HQs remaining MPs don't affect the buildup in any way however. Participating units get smaller bonus the more they move before the buildup.

Anyway, all this and more you can find in the condensed manual