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Thanks George. I originally de-rusted the tank with nuts and bolts and vinegar, and then flushed it out with the hose, followed by drying in the sun and then blasting with the air line. The problem is that the tank is full of fine sand which seems impossible to remove. I was hoping that it would be clean enough and that any left would be caught in the filters. After I had dried the tank and was ready to fit it to the bike, I gave it a final blast with the air line, and an enormous cloud of dust billowed out! Maybe at that point I should have flushed it out with another gallon of paraffin, but there is always a pint left trapped in the tank that is impossible to get out.

Right, I have drained out the petrol, which was a disgusting brown colour and removed the taps which were clogged with rust, and managed to drain most of the fuel that was left, but not all, but what now? Do I go the vinegar and nuts route again, which still leaves me with the problem of getting the residue out. If I flush it out with water how do I stop the water that remains in the tank rusting again?

OK have got a pressure washer? or has someone you know got one? I think considering how much debris you seem to have in this tank that's the way to go to try and dislodge as much as possible, you can blow out with compressed air and dry off with a hot air gun. I have the most rusty tank ever on my yamaha 350 ypvs (its a well known problem with them) cocktail shook with nuts and bolts then wrapped up in an old duvet and popped into the cement mixer for a couple of hours.....blown out with lots of compressed air.....looks terrible inside but there has been no more debris in the fuel lines since. and I think tha'ts about 4 years now.
Cheers,
George

Thanks again George. I've had another go this afternoon with the nuts and vinegar; gave it a good shaking, then flushed it out with loads of water through the garden hose. Dried it out as much as I can with the air hose, then poured in half a gallon of paraffin and sloshed that around, and I've left it there overnight. Tomorrow I'll get a fresh gallon of petrol and see how it runs.

I’ll bet your missfire is shit in the tank related.
You can get remaining water out of your tank with a small diameter clear hose and syphon it out.
Then wash it out with mentholated spirit, which if shaken will mix with the small amount of water still in the tank.
Again syphon out the remainder. Then air dry your tank.
If your tank is that bad you may have to use phosphoric acid to neutralise the rust.
Then maybe line the tank.
Bill Hirsch makes a good liner product that I have used for bad steel and fibre glass tanks.
Works with modern fuels.
Looks and smells like the old Kreem tank liner.

Graeme

For the speedo drive end, could you try building it up using solder then filing it back down to the right size?

I had this fine rust problem on a bike, it would clog the petrol filters after about 10 miles and stop the bike.
The remedy was to buy a tank sealing kit and that fixed it permanently.
I used the Frost Auto POR15 kit, but there a wide choice of products out there.

One problem with the petrol taps is that they have no filters, just open tubes sticking up into the tank, so I have been trying to fashion something, but the trouble is that the threads that take the taps are 12mm, so the usual tubular filters won't go in. Even if I buy two new taps with filters I have no way of knowing if they will be small enough to fit inside the threaded holes.

The Speedo cable inner is undersized both ends. I have contacted a cable company to see if they can make me a new inner, just waiting for a reply. I did think of tinning it, but I don't know if the solder would take and it would take forever to file it to the right size, AND I am getting fed up! I wasted all day yesterday trying to find solutions to this and I'm not in a very good frame of mind today!

The rust problem is not too bad I believe, it is mainly down to the lack of filters on the petrol taps themselves. Someone here suggested a tractor type filter bowl, where the silt sinks to the bottom, which is a good idea, but may not be practical. Thanks for the suggestions!

I have managed to fashion a pair of filters from old fuel taps, which I was able to slip over the tubes once everything was assembled. I then went and bought a gallon of fresh petrol, put it in the tank, reassembled the bike and it wouldn't start! I finally got it going but it is still misfiring. That's it for now I must take a break and then I'll check the ignition timing and anything else that I can think of.

It is amazing how many people on this site report misfiring; when you think that these engines are simple single cylinder units, they should be easy to set up. I don't recall having a misfire on one of my vee twins in 45 years of ownership.

Having ridden this bike (briefly) I remember why I always loved Ducati Singles (maybe not this one!) and I think that the reason that they work so well is the light weight, it makes them so alive, which is why I think my 750 bevel was such a joy to ride.

Duccout wrote:I have managed to fashion a pair of filters from old fuel taps, which I was able to slip over the tubes once everything was assembled. I then went and bought a gallon of fresh petrol, put it in the tank, reassembled the bike and it wouldn't start! I finally got it going but it is still misfiring. That's it for now I must take a break ... <snip>

Good call, Colin. Go and kick the cat, and then come back to it fresh. You WILL get there ....