I recently had problems starting my Egas BA (was lumping around running way too rich and stallled). No water came out the bottom two screws on the convertor so after reading around this forum I figured either the priming solenoid was failing or the idle jets were blocked. I went to remove the hoses from the solenoids on top when SNAP. The bottom hose connector was plastic!!! it broke like butter.

Anyone know where you can get replacements for this plastic VDO stepper motor thing (ideally just the bottom connector bit as it has 2 screws disconnecting it from the top half) and ideally NOT plastic.

Also, with the broken hole blocked off and obviously no longer connected, after a bit of cranking the car started and ran fine. So I'm guessing the problem must have been in that priming section.

So I guess I need to find a new solenoid and replace the broken plastic thing???

The top centre solenoid is the pre-prime solenoid ... and eventually fail over time. It will take a couple of seconds more to crank over though.

You can get the parts directly from Orbital in Arndell Park NSW

Yeah, I just opened the solenoid and cleaned it out (now works good as new, took all of 2 mins).
I bought the broken plastic stepper motor piece from Parnell for $20 (had to drill out the prime tube though as it was a solid piece of plastic). I drilled it with a 6mm bit (slightly larger than standard). The car starts easier and faster than ever (almost on par with standard fuel now!).

TIP - If anyone has similar problems in the future, check with a local taxi company to see who does their services. Odds are they will have lots of spare plastic bottom pieces to give away as they usually replace the whole stepper motor assembly and throw out the plastic bit that I needed.