If you're worried about sanding too much, try this stuff:

http://www.nevrdull.com/index.htm
Picked up at Ace Hardware for $4.

I used this to polish my internals and all it does is remove the overspray, no metal at all. The only thing is it takes quite a bit of elbow grease in the areas that have a thick coat of paint on it but at least you don't have to worry about stripping the metal away.

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