Cheap ebay turbos are a relatively recent thing. How long would you estimate that they have been tuning?
Did the guys you're talking about give any indication of what specifically the engine wanted which was different?
I am interested to know specifics because what you're telling me doesn't align with my own experiences tinkering with engines of various displacements, or what I've heard/read/seen from tuning professionals.
If they have expertise in something which I don't have knowledge of, I'd very much like to know what it is.
I wouldn't even attempt to tune to the ragged edge, since i have nothing to do with competitive cars.
Not many people would ask a non-professional to tune their competitive boosted big-inch car, and even fewer would expect it to be ready to race that night. Seems a bit unreasonable really.
Will my knowledge transition? I certainly think so.
seamlessly? How exactly do you define that?
Different engines can respond differently based on a number of factors, especially with ignition timing.
The process of getting the AFR where you want it doesn't change much between engines though
as far as i can tell, the displacement and number of cylinders generally aren't prohibiting factors in tuning EFI effectively. I can't fathom why they would be.
Will it be competitive after a couple of test hits?
No, it won't. And you'd have to be hopping mad to expect this.
Absolutely not, a competitive tune would require a combination of dyno time with knock ears and then afterwards many, many trial runs. even for a professional what you're asking for is impossible.
I haven't done a procharged V8. But the linear boost curve of a blower is much more predictable and repeatable than a turbo.
I'm confident I could dial-in a decent reliable tune with my current abilities, a professional tuner with a dyno might get 5-6% more output.
Most of the people I know would be extremely happy with a reliable 1130hp in their non-competitive street car, and could live with leaving 70hp on the table.