Now that I have my a portion of cooling system disassembled, I want to begin to clean up the parts, and get them ready for painting.

I understand I have to remove the rust and treat it with something like naval jelly or phosphoric acid before I can proceed. What do you recommend to strip the old paint off as quickly and painlessly as possible without damaging the parts? I can work on this stuff outside, except for the expansion tank, itself, which I'm not planning to remove - that one will have to be done in the engine room.

The parts are made of what appears to be bronze (well, the inside plates of the expansion tank look like bronze). One piece looks like aluminum (the tranny cooler piece that came off the expansion tank). One of the pipes is a smooth gold-colored metal; I thought bronze wasn't smooth, but I don't think this would be brass.

Thanks, guys!