I am, I haven't transitioned yet though because of my height and I know my life will get about 50% worse if I do at this height
Yes, your life could indeed get worse as a man at your height.
I know someone you did what you are planning to do. The transmission took her many years to become him.
His height is ~167cm and he seems to be doing fine in life, as far as I can tell.
Somehow, he later looked younger as a man, than when he was still a girl
Maybe it has something to do with his features being softer compared to the other guys.
But okay, regarding your questions:
Forget 10 inches, max. 5 inches spread across all four segments (femur and tibia) is more realistic.
But it depends on A LOT of factors from still having a female physiology, your personal flexibility and health and you proportions.
Also, the shorter you are, the less you can lengthen your legs (percentage-wise).
I think in the end, and if everything works well for you, you could be my current height.
But the truth is, that being male and at the lower end of 160cm life is still hell.
I once attempted suicide (I did it, but I was to stupid to do it properly and than they found me) because of it.
I'm not trying to scare you off LL, but it is a really hard, painful and long journey. Also expensive.
I'm just not sure if you could reach your personal goal to look more mature, because even I am still mistake for a boy when wearing a hoody.
People don't respect me at all, it's only because many know that I did LL that they at least have stopped making fun of my height.
What you could gain from LL is that you could buy pants without having to go the the children's department.
You could have more quality in daily life because everything made around us (at least where I live) is aimed for >160cm people like chairs, the shelves in the supermarket and so on.
Also, ~162cm would make you look more manly compared to your current height, but you will always be like 20cm away from average height, so the people will look at you either way.