Couple of Novice Points Questions Options

[Craigers17]

I have a 74 with 2056 dual 40's. I know the carbs are clean and linkage is on point. The car started running a little rough and backfiring and my thoughts were that the points were possibly not gapped correctly. My thoughts were points because last time my car started running poorly with almost the exact same issues, it was bad points.

When I pulled the distributor cap and rotor, I found a piece of pink felt like material in the bottom of the disty. I'm not an expert on points by any means, but I found this unusual. I thought this felt material might have at one time been attached to the points as part of the "brush"....but am kind of clueless. This is an 009 disty and wondered if anybody had seen this before?

I guess my exact question is does anybody know what this pink felt material is? And, does the brush area on this distributor look correct? Also, does anybody have a part number/good vendor for replacement points for this disty? Even if I don't replace these now, i want to have a backup set. Any feedback is appreciated.

[Shivers]

I was not looking to change my ignition, when I did. I just got tired of cleaning and resetting the points. I’d have to time it afterwards. A whole production to get the car ready for fun. I read in hot vdubs about these electronic ignitions back in the early 80s and I was converted by the Set it and forget it part of the sales pitch. Once installed I discovered how quick it starts in the morning and how much better it ran. Now they have them that will hide under the cap. Just a thought.