Thanks again to everyone, particularly Art & Randall, for your input and help. I got the R&P conversion in and aligned early on Saturday morning, then took a drive out to Jersey.
I have to concur with Art on how much of a difference the R&P makes on a 3. Out of any of the modifications I've done, this is the most striking. It's really like driving a different car. I used to have a good 2"-3" of play on my steering wheel (steering box was in bad shape, but I was used to it). Now there is no slop whatsoever. The responsiveness and road feel are 100% better. Randall, I know you're a proponent of a properly setup steering box & worm gear, but if anyone is thinking seriously about this conversion, I say go for it. Simply awesome.
I purchased the kit from these guys (as did Art):
British Auto Restorations LLC
2136 Patterson Ave SW
Roanoke, VA 24016-2512
Phone: (540) 989-5121
Cost was about $895, as I already had converted to an electric fan-only setup, which took $100 off the normal price of $995. Still waaaay cheaper than the BPNW setup.
The funny thing is that I used to think of things like hard starting and hard steering as anti-theft deterrents for the car. Now that those issues are fixed I may finally install a kill switch!
Cheers,
Gavin