67 250 Fuel Filter Help

[A.Bursell]

Hello,

Just finishing up my tune-up on my 67 with a 250 1BBL in it. I wanted to change the fuel filter as part of my maintenance. I picked up a new one but found a surprise when I took the old one out. It appears to be a stone type material. I've never seen this before. It's fairly heavy and copper colored. It has a spot on the back where a spring fits into it, so I believe it was designed for this. I wonder if it's a permanent filter of some sort?

Questions-- should I keep this stone filter (or find a new one), or replace with the new paper element? If the paper element, do I use the spring from the stone filter on it?

Pictures attached.

Adam