Just to be sure, the spring and Bakelite cushion are actually behind the grease fitting. So you would have had to take the fitting off and dug around to determine if yours was still there. If you are certain it’s not, you should replace it. I used a piece of Delrin from a rod that I picked up on eBay and cut it down to fit. Deve from this site found a hardware store nylon washer that fit. Removal of the spring and spacer/cushion was not a modification. There was a reason why those parts were installed and It’s the same reason why you want to put them back if in fact yours are missing - they help with the stability of the shaft, lessen the wobble as the distributor wears.
