I used chemical stripper when I did my engine bay also. For the same reasons it worked very well butt it was still alot of work getting all the paint off of the metal, and I still sanded it once more to make sure there was no residual chemical left on the metal then also used etching primer (spraybomb metal etch) and it is holding up fine so far. I then masked it off and painted it seperately from the rest of the car, then moved on to the rest of the car. I was well pleased with the end result. As far as painting the rest of the car IMO I like to paint the panels seperately, then the roof, quarters and jams together so the job doesn't seem so big. Also I am no pro and it lets you get the feel without messing up on the whole thing at one time. On one more note I too used the shopline and it turned out great for me, 1 gal base, 2 gal primer, 2 gal of clear is what it took for me after redoing a couple of things I wasn't happy with. I also think the base clear method was made for someone like me that don't know what the h@!! thier doing.