quick steering is nice in a race car and near a must in a rally car. yes the steering gets heavier but these cars were designed so old nanas could steer them easily on their way down the shops, not for competition.
my 1600 has about 2.2 turns lock to lock and it's not a problem at all. the steering is a little bit heavy but once you're racing you forget all about that.
Bob Cooper's rack conversion sounded really good- very guick ratio and lengthwise sounded like a good match. If you approach him and ask nicely I think he would help you out. He knows 1200s. I think it was rear mounted too.