I want to modify mine also. But I decided I'm going to take it slow. At first I wanted to go all out and modify everything. New paint, new crank, rims, fork, the whole shebang. But after cleaning it, I decided for now to just keep the paint, cause I hate to ruin that ol' time look. (For now). I will definitely convert the front end as soon as I can figure how to do it without altering it too much. And I've got my eye on the SRAM Spectro 7 or 8 for the rear. If and when I do switch to aluminum rims, I'll keep the originals as they are. This is a long term project. And after seeing what others have done to theirs I want mine to look just as sweet.....As far as any bad spots on the paint, which mine doesn't have. Check out the framepainters link and learn the best way to do it.