I am in the process of getting my car ready for paint. There is about 3 layers on the car and looking for the best way to take it off. also any tips for the under side of the hood and trunk lid?

Norton Rapid Strip pads on an electric grinder. The only place I know to get them is Home Depot, they work great.
Check this this thread
http://www.chevelles.com/forums/showthread.php?t=267937

Aircraft stripper and sanding disks and time and patience.

Aircraft stripper and sanding disks and time and patience.
btdt, too messy imo

btdt, too messy imo
I agree. I've done two with chemical stripper but no more. The last one took 5 or 6 applications of stripper in some areas no matter what brand of stripper I used. If I do another it will be with the discs you mentioned or twisted wire wheel.

what about the under side of the hood

media blasted cost was $450.00, door jams, underneath hood and deck lid and dash and was well worth it.

Blasted my own with almond shells which won't warp the panels by heating them....Dad has a commercial blaster on its own trailer. I spent about $150 on blasting materials.

Got ours back a few weeks ago from sand blasting inside and out...

http://72malibu.chambersohana.com/graphics/sb_rear_view.jpg

That's when the ugly part started...

http://72malibu.chambersohana.com/graphics/quarter_removed04.jpg

If you want to get it ALL!!! Blasting is the only way to go IMHO

http://inlinethumb44.webshots.com/26603/2709077030100380351S500x500Q85.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2709077030100380351RPyaHs)

http://inlinethumb33.webshots.com/36896/2629944790100380351S500x500Q85.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2629944790100380351wADzAq)

http://inlinethumb09.webshots.com/45448/2000416250100380351S500x500Q85.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2000416250100380351OgJXnb)

I had a local media blasting Co. use walnut shells on both sides of my hood, front fender, fenderwells, trunk lid, and some other parts for about $150-$200 and worth every penny I spent. The rest of the car I sanded down with a D/A and media blasted the floors and jams, I should have brought the entire car to have it walnut shelled. Leaves the car smooth and unpitted, but won't remove any rust.

Jim

I've used chemical stripper in the past with fairly mixed results. If I had to do it again, I'd probably still use the chemical, but it ain't great for sure. I don't have a truck/trailer to haul a car to the blaster, but if I did I'd probably go that route. I also don't mave much rust on the cars I've worked on so I don't need media blasting to get rid of rust. I don't have a compressor big enough to DA. When I stripped my Chevelle a long time ago, there was a lot of filler from the previous owner. I used 60 grit sanding discs on a large black and decker sander/polisher and that did a good job of getting out the filler.
My experience with chemical stripper is you gotta get the good stuff. Some is better than others. On some paint, I've seen it blubble up and come off like nobody's business. Practically falling off the car. On other paint I've seen it mearly soften it a bit but not really take it off, so that you'd have to do several treaments. Not sure what the difference was.

I use a non-woven fiber disk like the Norton Rapid-strip mentioned above.
Took me 3 of them to do the chassis of my 71.
Just be careful about catching edges with those disks they shread themselves to pieces in a hurry.

One note about the chemical stripper that I picked up from a body guy years ago.
The trick is to get it on nice and even use a roller instead of a brush and put a nice thick layer on and heres the key, cover the whole mess with plastic and let it sit.
Saran wrap would work garbage bags ect but the key is to keep it moist and in contact with the surface being stripped.

I used it on my decklid but i wasn't too happy with how quickly the panel flash rusted after I did it.
I wasn't even done stripping it and other areas were already rusting!

Soda Blasting here.

I had mine media blasted then immediately primered to avoid any surface rust starting to form. (Humidity in the northeast can be a b@*ch) Unless I had a lot of time and space, I wouldn't do it any other way.