So I've got this X-53 boys' bike with horrible homebrew paint and lots of wrong parts, and I just stumbled upon a complete X-53 girls' bike with fair to good paint. At the moment my plan is to paint the boys frame and tank to match the two-tone blue paint scheme of the girls bike and switch the parts over. I know that the frame can be safely sandblasted, but what about the tank? I've read that sandblasting can be destructive to sheet metal and other thin parts. Can an old tank like this be safely sandblasted? Alternately, will aircraft stripper damage it?
