I've just put a 7/8 in both my 1600 and 1200 (both unboosted). both of them obviously came with no rod as they are from a boosted car. Depending on the brake rod will depend how easy it is.

Both the master cylinders had a circlip which held in a washer, this needs to be undone and this washer needs to go on the end of your 1200 brake rod, this then goes back into the master cylinder and the clip goes back on. For my 1600 I had no worries as i had an adjustable rod which i could simply spin off and slide the washer on. On my 1200 I had to grind a slit in the washer to be able to get it on the rod.

I am running standard drums/dics on the 1200 and its actually not as bad as I thought with the 7/8. If you had brakes which took more fluid to move you'd be fine.