Kics Project Magnetic Drain Bolt

This just came in via courier today. Already had a good lick!
The Kics Project magnetic drain bolt basically replaces the oil sump drain bolt and incorporates a magnet so that any metallic particles or debri will accumulate at the bolt area rather than in the oil possibly causing long term damage. The actual bolt itself is made from aluminium alloy for light weight. Fab idea and execution. If you're not sure of what an oil sump is time to read up :) Nissan vehicles use a M12 X 1.25 thread pitch bolt. Bolt is available in any colour so long as it's red. Closeup pix.

The magnetic drain bolt is supplied complete with stock washer and gasket. Picture below of the magnet element.

Will install during my next oil change about 2000km from now. The Kics Project magnetic drain bolt costs bout 75-80 smackers per bolt (need to check my card statement for exchange rate) including shipment and is basically available for most popular Jap makes. You can order through me but if your car is not a Nissan do make sure you know the bolt size and thread pitch. Mitsubishi and Proton for example uses a M14 X 1.5 bolt. If you're not sure, ask me nicely and I can find out for you.

The Carbon Dream Continues

Replaced the bracket holding my Helix Cap 33 with carbon version today. Also replaced the bracket holding the Phoenix Gold 150 amp main fuse. Brackets are full carbon and not fibreglass crap with one layer of cf for aesthetics. You cannot imagine how much effort and carbon material is required to make even a simple bracket. When all it takes is a 5 min job to bend and cut mild steel you have to wet lay-up the carbon cloth. One layer of carbon cloth is 0.25mm thick so to make a 1mm thick bracket you need around 10 layers or so after factoring shrinkage. Then you need to mould in the bends and curves. No joke.

Picture below of said brackets. I had a spare bracket made up for the Helix Cap 33.

Carbon bracket vs crappy starting to rust mild steel bracket. Haha.. wait till Uncle David sees this..

Carbon has one third the mass of steel. Much stiffer too! The only downside is carbon will not bend like steel and will break if the force applied to it exceeds it's shear strength. Pictured below of the bracket and Helix Cap 33 installed. Need to replace crappy mild steel nut. Blue or gold anodized titanium would look lovely.

Picture below of Phoenix Gold 0AWG/150amp main fuse with carbon holder mounted. Too lazy to make the other bracket as that has too many compound curves.

Too much work for too little carbon? Don't worry. I had my rear Nismo bootlid lip/spoiler removed in order to make an investment mould for a carbon version. Was originally going to buy a spare spoiler to make the mould so my stock spoiler would remain virgin but one joker wanted to sell me his second hand spoiler for close to stock list price while the other joker told me he was going to check the shipping cost of his spoiler and get back to me but he never did. Guess I'll spend the money instead to repaint my stock spoiler back to like new after the mould is completed and sell it off later. Picture below of spoiler removed. The stock spoiler is held onto the bootlid only with double sided tape. Damn heavy too. I'll get it weighted for comparison when my carbon spoiler is ready. Brabus Rocket here I come! :P

After more than an hour of lotsa WD40, muscle ache, sweat and swearing the boot lid looked much more presentable. Man! Do my fingers ache from scrapping of the double sided tape residue &*(*^%&%#@! Could have made it to look mint with some Autoglym polish but polish or wax is the last thing you want to get on the area where you're gonna be installing the carbon spoiler again via double sided tape.

I also had my number plates done up in carbon. Carbon parts should be ready in about a month or two (sooner for the number plates). Spend the rest of the morning watching Kimi win the Ozzie GP, discussing other carbon parts for the Slowtra and sms'ing Jacko & Uncle Foo who wanted a carbon airbox. The possibilities are endless and only limited by my budget or lack of :) Man I can't sleep!

Oh, I know this is not related to carbon composites but I'm too lazy to start another article. I had the "SG" badge removed also while removing the rear spoiler. Thinking to stick the "Nismo" decal beneath the "Sentra" badge and "S-Tune" beneath the "1.6 VTC" badge. What do you think? Will the rear boot lid look too cluttered?

Helix Cap 33

If you're experiencing alternator whine and additional grounding doesn't fix the issue then you might wanna consider this gadget. It really worked a treat when I was having alternator whine problems after installing my Steg amp. The Cap 33 works like a mini capacitor and is only rated at 33,000 microfarad. You basically connect it between your car's battery and it's alternator. More details in Helix Capacitor webpage - Audiotec Fischer. Picture below of how mine is installed. Crappy fabricated mild steel mounting bracket will soon make way for a carbon version. Was gonna install the carbon bracket last weekend but then I had to get into an accident. Hopefully I'll have time to install this weekend.

Pix looking from the side. Screw terminals are gold plated.

I'm using a Delkor Maintenance Free Battery btw. Size is per stock batt which is NS70. Kenneth (Netken) from ICE Forum did a group buy recently on the Cap 33. Price was very reasonable as Ken took the trouble to get the caps from Sillypore. He might still have a couple left. Hook him up over at ICE Forum if you're interested.

Bang! - All's Well Ends Well and BBS Porn

Checked my alignment today and everything was ok. Phew! Also redid my onwheel balancing.

While having my car done I had a long talk with the Taukeh (I only call him Taukeh and have been doing that since Day One) and was immediately asked if anyone's interested in this cool 17" JDM spec BBS LM wheel? The PCD is 100 4 lug bolt pattern so it fits Wiras/Putras/GTIs. Price? Take a deep breath, sit down and sip a cup of water..... RM10K! And that's offer price for the rim that only got fitted today on pictured Mini for promotional purposes and will be removed the next day.
LMs are forged ACQ (Aircraft Quality) Aluminium. Weight's not too light most surprisingly. The pictured rim below weights around 8.6kg per BBS Japan website. Width of the rim should be 7.5" as that is the only width BBS makes a PCD 4X100 in. Offset should be 40. More details in BBS Japan's web page. Heavy or not I sure won't mind fitting a set to the Slowtra ;) Unfortunately BBS Jap does not make them in 114.3X4 PCD. Sigh.. Close up below. Shame bout the Falken tyre. A 10K rim IMHO should be fitted with more exotic tyres. The rims look good enough to lick. Lovely! Serious buyers pls call 04-2266516 or 04-2265349 and ask for the Taukeh.

The Taukeh also convinced me that selling my RKs would tantamount to sacrilege at this point. He was very impressed with the strength of the RKs and how hard the paint coating was to have hold up to the impact. RKs brand new would today retail around more than 4K. And that's if you can find one. Per the Taukeh, Enkei RPF's are pedestrian in comparison. Oh well, I might not sell my RKs after all...

Bang! - Better Than New

Just collected the Slowtra after work today. Pix below. Make your own opinion but I am very very chuffed with the results :) What a relief! Looks better than new eh? Damage was only bout 300 bucks.

Bang! - Cont'd

Went to check on the Slowtra today and as expected the car looks better than new with the bumper side and fender totally restored. What a relief! Unfortunately my painter advised me against painting my BBS wheel. The original paint on the wheel is very hard and will not fade with extreme heat. There's no way he can replicate the quality with Malaysian technology. This means the scratch marks will remain. Sigh. Pix below of the wheel slightly scuffed due to the skirmish. Luckily the scuff marks on the wheel spokes have been removed after some polishing.

Left my car there for another day or so as I'm repainting the driver's side side skirting. That's been scuffed till kingdom come cause yours truly has been quite clumsy when exiting the car. Got bigfoot? Will re-check the alignment when I collect my car. On a brighter note I've requested my bro Jacko to be on the lookout for some Enkei RPF1s. Jacko recently fitted said wheels to his Super GTI. Article in my other blog. Managed to track down a set but the colour turned out to be white again. Arrgggh! Looking for silver or even gold. The RPF1s are even lighter than the BBS RK!

Bang!

This just happened earlier after work and dinner.

And the idiot actually had the audacity to yell at me after getting out of his car. Obviously I exploded and yelled back and that actually calmed him down. Haha! We decided it was 50-50 and to settle the damage ourselves. Personally I think he's well in the wrong but honestly I don't have all the time to file a police report and argue my case. Damage looks too minimal for an insurance claim and furthermore I have max NCB so no way I'm gonna loose that. To say I'm pissed is an understatement. 9+ months, not a scratch and now suddenly this. Couldn't have happened at a better time as I'm up to my neck already renovating my house. Also have some parts on order for the Slowtra which I wanted to blog about in the near future but could now be delayed as a result of this mishap. Worse of all the BBS wheel took a hit with some scratches and scuff/paint marks. Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! Sigh... Luckily the bumper and fender looks intact with nothing out of alignment. The N16 is a pretty tough car from the looks of it.

Called my mech to send the car to hospital for plastic/metal surgery/rebeautification job. Thanks Ah Eng for listening to my rant after a long day and for allowing me to put my car in your shop even after it's been well closed for the day and of course for dropping me home. Hope the painter/repairer does a good job. He's my usual guy and has been with me since my SP days. This guy can really do a good job if you give him time. Also taking the opportunity to fix some bumper road rash (caused by small gravel hitting the bumper at high speed) and scuff marks of the driver side sideskirt (caused by me not being careful when getting out of the Slowtra). I'm gonna retire for the night. Praying hard my BBS wheel can be fixed like near mint. Worse case I'm gonna get me some Enkei RPF1s or SSR Type Cs :( Guess I'll know in the next few days. Over and out.

Sport Compact Car Mag

Beg borrow or steal the below 2 issues of popular US tuning mag - Sport Compact Car as it details the B15 Nismo Sentra S-Tune and R-Tune. The mag to your left (cover showing ASM S2000) is the latest issue (March 2007) and still widely available in popular bookshops and magazine stands.

Here's a teaser pix of the Nismo Sentra article. The two B15 Nismo Sentras are pitted against SCC's Project B13 Sentra. Guess which car wins?

Nismo R Tune Sentra. Slurrrp! Wouldn't mind a QR25DE engine but the road tax cost and fuel consumption is going to be horrendous!

There's even an article on fitting Wilwood 4-piston brakes to your B13 Sentra. Fab fab! The other mag is going to be next to impossible to get if you do not have it as it's the April 2004 issue. This mag features the original B15 Nismo S-Tune and R-Tune Sentra article. Well you can always borrow from me provided you keep the pages clean and liquid stain free. Teaser pix below.
Guess you now know where the inspiration to get the S-Tune sticker set came from eh? :P

Sound Deadening

One of the first "mods" I did while continuously having my ICE upgraded is to sound deaden the entire car. Most people would call this sound proofing but I prefer the term sound deadening cause if you're expecting a sound proofing effect than you'll be sorely disappointed. As you know the Sentra is a Japanese car and the sound deadening is nowhere near for example a BMW or Mercedes. There are lots of exposed sheet metal! What sound deadening does is to lower (not totally eliminate) the noise floor and reduce unwarranted sounds (especially from the doors due to intense vibration from the door mounted speakers). Sound deadening also adds mass and serves as reinforcement for thin steel panels to prevent flexing thus reducing the noise from this area. It also acts as a barrier against tyre, road and wind noise. For more details on the benefits of sound deadening and the different materials used do refer to the excellent The Sound Deadener Showdown resource site.

Anyway I had all my doors done. The front doors alone had two layers while the rears one layer. I also had my a-pillars, rear seat floor, rear deck, entire boot including spare tyre well and boot lid done. Sound deadening materials used were a combination on Wurth, Deadpan and GSI Dampit. These are popular sound deadening materials. I did not use the ever de facto standard Dynamat Extreme as Uncle does not carry this material. Even with the cheaper materials used the cost still stretched to >RM2K by the time I'm done. Sound deadening is not cheap mind you!

Picture below of the outer door skin sound deadened with a layer of Wurth

Inner door skin done up with Deadpan. I had the stock transparent plastic sheeting removed as that was proving to be contributing to the additional unwanted sound effect.
Rear deck with Wurth material
Rear boot lid with GSI Dampit material
Beneath rear seats all the way to the boot and spare tyre well also with GSI Dampit material

All this is not easy work and takes up a lot of time. I can vouch for that having personally seen with me own eyes the amount of work involved to install all the sound deadening. Lots of cutting and trimming involved. Excellent workmanship as usual from Uncle Yeoh as can be seen from the pixs.

And the downsides? Well apart from the already mentioned high costs, sound deadening also adds mass. A lot of additional unwanted mass! I wouldn't be suprised if I added 20-30kg of mass or more to the Slowtra just by installing said sound deadening. You can really feel the additional mass especially from the front doors. Not good when the N16 is already quite a porker. This is what is preventing me from installing yet another layer of sound deadening to the front doors as I'm still getting the occasional rattling sound during heavy bass. Unfortunately this is a compromise one has to accept for a quieter ride and the opportunity to enjoy his or her ICE more. So who's going to be the first to develop lightweight sound deadening materials?

Round 3: Focal K2P Series 27KX Subwoofer

Originally did not want a subwoofer as I was very concerned with the additional weight which would only hinder the N16's already anaemic power to weight ratio and not to mention worsen the fuel consumption. Unfortunately ICE has proven to be extremely lethal and poisonous especially after an audition with a simple JL Audio W2 sub. The sub practically added to every frequency of the sonic soundscape making each note more rounded. Vocals were especially much better meshed out. Kick drums really had the kick and likewise piano notes! I was just expecting an improvement on the lower registers only and not this much!

So I set about looking for a decent sub. Dynamics, speed, precision and impact is what I'm looking for in a sub rather than just super low bass. And I absolutely hate bass bloom. This would mean a sub with dry bass characteristics. My other main concerns were a smaller volume sub box as I wanted to maintain the N16's excellent boot space and of course as little weight as possible while maintaining the sound quality. This means a sub that works optimally with sealed boxes. The Focal range of subs would be the best bet per advice from David. I initially wanted the Focal Utopia-BE 21WX 8" sub as this sub had the sound quality I was looking for plus the smaller size would mean a smaller box volume and less weight. However Uncle D's advice is that this sub is probably too small for a car the size of an N16 and wouldn't generate sufficient sound volume. If I wanted the 21WX it would be advisable that I use TWO subs which is a No No given the compromises involved and not to mention the cost. One 21WX costs RM3K mind you. The earlier Utopia (Non-BE) series sub the 27WX is another excellent choice but requires a ported sub box of much larger volume than a sealed box. So I settled for the K2P series 11" 27WX sub after some simulation with Uncle's software. This would provide excellent matching as I already had the K2P speakers. And not forgetting the lower costs involved. The 27KX costs around RM2.2K. The sub would also work well with a 1 cubic feet sub box. Believe me you do not want to go larger than 1 cubic ft if you love your boot/trunk space.

The sub promptly arrived 1 week later. Pix below of box. The K2P series is made in France. Lower end Focals are made in China.

Pix of the sub itself. The yellow woofer looks bling :P The 27KX is a single voice coil (SVC) sub. Focal strangely works in odd diameters for the smaller subs. The next bigger sub is the 33KX at 13" diameter followed 40KX which is 16". This is directly opposite popular sub sizes which are 10", 12" and 15".

Side view. The red magnets are huge! Finish and build quality is top notch. Weight is a quite considerable 7.2kg. Not the heaviest (when compared to JL W6/7 monsters or the Adire Audio Brahma) but not too light either. Full specs are avail in Focal's web page

Nominal power handling is a quite considerable 300 Watts. This means that my 4-channel Steg amp would just about cope (hopefully). Planning to bridge 2 channels to drive the sub and see how it goes as not sure if the amp would be up to the task of driving both the mids and the sub. The K2P series is famously power hungry. Luckily the 27KX fits in 10" holed sub boxes so Uncle loaned me a 1 cubic feet sub box for testing purposes. Pix below of sub and box in trunk. The rear fill stock speakers were junked at this point. SQ wise the 27KX proved to be everything Uncle's software simulation showed. The bass proved to be very tight, fast and dynamic. Would still love more punch though.

I would say the Steg QmosII 105.4x coped pretty well and only struggled during the highest of volumes on complex and dynamic tracks but given how poisoned I was at this point I had already made up my mind to get another amp specifically for the sub. Stay tuned for Round 4!

Nismo Racing Radiator Cap

Got this to complement my Nismo engine oil cap. The Nismo radiator cap has a opening point of 1.3kg/cm2 compared to 0.9 for the stock radiator cap. The higher pressure actually raises the boiling point of your radiator coolant/water thus resulting in better cooling. This is provided your engine's cooling circuit is able to handle the additional pressure. Do not try this on Protons as leaks will occur at the radiator hose joint points. Don't ask me how I know. Was assured by Alan that this wouldn't be an issue and that the radiator cap and my car's warranty would be unaffected. Closeup picture below of Nismo radiator cap in packaging.

As far as I know the radiator cap is common across most late gen Nissan's including R32/33/34, S13/14/15, N13/14/15/16, B13/14/15, etc. Part number is 21430-RS012. Picture below of the radiator cap installed. Looks very shiny and bling eh? :P

Trip Down South

Was in S'pore for vacation last month. Here's 2 pixs of the S'porean N16 which is called the Nissan Sunny there.

C (Continuous) VTC and E-Throttle (Drive-by-wire. There are no throttle cables involved) results in a claimed engine output of 110ps. That is around 8ps less than our supposedly older and inferior specced engine. No thanks. The Sillypore N16 is only avail as a 1.6 litre and from all models have rear drum brakes. There is no FL2 variant.

And this is the G11 Bluebird Sylphy which is the replacement for our N16 (G10 Bluebird Sylphy) in Japland. Car's huge!

The car's targetted for women in Japan. All alloy MR20DE engine has a quoted power output of only 133ps and has no form of variable valve timing. I don't even want to talk about the 1.5litre HR15DE engine. All models have rear drum brakes. Interior pix below. How Uncle looking can you get? Wonder how many plastic trees got chopped for the interior wood trim? Extronic gearbox means rubber band CVT gearbox. Arrrgh!

Rear pix. Picture was taken with me in my bro's car - Civic FD1 2.0.

More details in Nissan Japan's Sylphy home page. Make your own conclusions but I would stay away from this car like a plague. There is absolutely no sporting pretensions whatsoever. Nissan Japan's webpage even shows 3 not bad looking women circling the car for goodness sake. I actually spent more time admiring the women than the Sylphy. What a crying shame from the same company that spawned the 200ps 1.6 Pulsar VZR N1, Skylines, Sylvias, etc.

CNY Pedicure

Picture below of the Slowtra's engine with the engine cover removed, after a couple rounds with the engine degreaser, many a toilet paper and some cotton buds. Took me more than half an hour to clean the cam cover of all the oily and dusty gunk that had accumulated after 8 months of usage. The engine cover comes off once you remove 2 M6 X 30mm bolts and 2 M6 flanged nuts. Piece of cake.
The engine doesn't look too bad with the cover off. I'm contemplating not using the engine cover and also removing all it's mounting brackets for some weight savings. What do you think? The cover also gets in the way when I'm cleaning the inlet manifold.

Closeup of the Hitachi ignition module which is the core part of the Nissan NDIS (Nissan Direct Ignition System) system. If you're looking to upgrade the spark plug cables to colourful big diameter buzzillion core versions tough luck as there's none.

Authentic Nismo Rice

Bought some original Nismo rice parts when I visited the Nismo Malaysia branch in Prai Pix of the Nismo S-Tune sticker set and the Nismo "racing" fashion cigarette lighter which is fashioned to resemble the electrical cut-off switch found in race cars.

Closeup of the "racing" cigarette lighter

The stickers add 50hp (dyno tested) when fondled and using the racing cigarette lighter instantly boosts your "racing" skills by 50%. Hahahah! Disclaimer: Please note that I don't smoke and do not condone any form of smoking. Japanese humour doesn't come cheap at 60 smackers each for the sticker and cigarette lighter.

Rays Engineering Duralumin Lug Nuts Installed

Finally installed my Rays lug nuts when I went to dial in my alignment after installing the new shocks. Closeup pix below

The Rays weight 23.3 grammes per M12 X 1.25 thread pitch lug nut. The 1.5 pitch lug nut is slightly lighter at 22.6 grammes. Option Magazine February 2007 issue actually has the weight of most popular performance and aftermarket lugnuts listed. The stock lugnuts easilly weight 2.5-3 times more. Pix from slightly farther away

I also have some Rays lightweight aluminium wheel valves on order. Should be arriving after CNY hols.

Happy Chinese New Year!!!

I would like to wish Everyone A Very Happy and Prosperous Chinese New Year!!! May The Coming Year Bring You Lots of Joy, Wealth and of course More Mods!

Nismo G-Attack S-Tune Suspension Kit

Drive a stock N16 enthusiastically and it's a real pain. The car feels sloppy and inprecise. Attack a corner hard and the car rolls it's way through it. Hit a road depression while driving high speed and the car literally bounces around. All this is a result of a suspension tuned only for comfort, low cost and nothing else. What a shame especially when the equivalent USDM B15 is a proven track and auto-X handler. Guess when the N16 was launched TCM's target customer base was more towards the Uncle and Aunty population.

Anyway, TCM is trying to put things right with the recent launch of Nismo Malaysia. Nismo or Nissan Motorsports is the official motorsport and tuning arm of Nissan. Nismo Malaysia even has their own website and list of tuning parts for the X-Trail and Sentra. Check it out here. Still mostly dress-up parts for the Sentra though such as the excellent Nismo bodykit. However the G-Attack S-Tune shocks really caught my eye as I was looking for a suspension upgrade. Was thinking bout Tein Super Street coilovers but really unless you do track days frequently coilovers are a real pain to setup. You will have to dial in the ride height and corner balance the car to get your money's worth. Coilovers are for that purpose and not maximum lowering despite what the boy racer crowd will tell you. On top of that from experience I can tell you coilovers are not good for NVH compared to conventional shocks. The springs occasionally rattle especially when going over bumps. While damping adjustable, the Super Streets are only one way adjustable which means the compression and rebound damping adjustment are combined making tuning a compromise as they lack separate adjustment ala my DMS 50mm shocks on the SP. Unless I build a hardcore track day N16 which is something I don't have the time and budget, the Teins are for another day another time.

Anyway back to the S-Tune shocks. Per Nismo speak, the S-Tune is essentially the first level of performance upgrade for a Nissan car. This is followed by R-Tune and finally Z-Tune. Consider the S-Tune as Stage 1 or a steeping stone to the R-Tune (Stage 2) upgrade. Pix of S-Tune shock absorbers as displayed in TCM Prai, Penang Nismo showroom

More research including translating the Nismo Japan S-Tune webpage and numerous emails with Alan Khoo from Nismo Malaysia Operations led me to the following conclusion

• The S-Tune shock is assembled by APM locally from parts imported from Japan. This brings the price down to RM2.5K retail (price includes install labour) . Equivalent S-Tune shocks for the Pulsar retail at >3K in Japan.
• The S-Tune is a twin tube shock that is of similar configuration to the stock shocks and is neither height nor damping adjustable. The damping however is already optimized for the N16 by Nismo's engineers (yes, they really did come here to test the car) for sporty and occasional track day driving. To me this is best compromise for the majority. Adjustable shocks might sound glamorous but unless you know what you are doing and have the time and experience to dial in the shock it's frequently a case of 1 step forward and 2 or more steps backwards. Too many fish tailing slammed cars out there. Please don't join in. Mike Kojima's excellent article on suspension tuning details how to properly set-up and dial in your shocks. Definitely not for the lazy and rice look crowd.
• The S-Tune is for everyday driving hence only result in a ride height that is approximately 2-2.5cm lower compared to stock. The N16 has poor suspension travel and should not be lowered more than that anyway for optimum handling unless you have the capability to change it's roll centre and suspension pivot points. If you're looking for a slammed to the ground look go elsewhere.
• Front spring rate is 2.3kg/mm while rear is 2.5-3.0kg/mm. Springs are very red coloured.
• The suspension kit is essentially a direct-bolt on replacement for the stock shocks and includes shocks, springs, bump stops, rubber piston shaft covers, ie. everything. There is even a wheel spacer should you be dumb dumb enough to have oversized wheels with the incorrect offset and need the spacers for the shocks and wheel to clear the inner wheel arch.
• Warranty will follow your car's warranty if your car is less than two years old at time of installation and one year if your car is more than two years old at time of installation.

Alan even gave me a decent discount and took the trouble to call my local TCEAS to arrange for an install appointment. Thanks Alan! A couple days later the shocks dutifully arrived. Closeup pix below of the box label.


The TCEAS mechanic only took bout an hour to install the shocks since the process is just a simple bolt-on. Pix below of the front strut. There are Nismo logos all along the length of the strut/shock body. The grey coloured sleeve tubing on the lowest coil is to eliminate spring rattle noise.

The shocks have all the necessary brackets to mount your brake lines for proper clearance. Unused bracket is for ABS brake line which my N16 does not have.


The rear shocks.

Picture below of the Slowtra with stock 15"wheels and suspension. Front wheel arch gap is big enough to fit your leg!


With the Nismo shocks and 16" X 7"BBS RK wheels. Front wheel arch to tyre gap is now approx 4 fingers while rear is 3 fingers. Not that much lower than stock ride height but there is some definite lowering visually.
With everything installed and the alignment done I took the car for a drive. The improvement was so much that I ended up driving more than a hundred kilometres of testing that day. Drove all the way to the mainland and to the N/S Highway. What a blast! My observations.

• These shocks are IMHO comfy. The feel is similar to Koni Sport shocks/Eibach spring combo with the damping set to softest or near soft. Something akin to a slightly stiffer stock Satria GTi.
• Damping while stiff is very controlled and honestly you'll be hard pressed to find a local performance shock with such excellent damping feel. On the road and for daily driving this is close to just right as you'd hope for. The damping action is also very fast. Hit a bump or road undulation at high speed and the car regains composure very fast unlike the stock setup which will result in the car pogo'ing around like a yo-yo and feels like the suspension is bottoming out.
• The car is much more responsive. Corner turn-in is improved due to more compression damping.
• Pitch and roll while minimized is still present. Praying hard Nismo Malaysia will launch the S-Tune/R-Tune anti-roll bar kit. The kit is already available in the US. Alan, I hope you are reading this.
• The shocks handle well for high speed driving. The car does not feel floaty like stock even at maximum top speed.

For those aiming for purely for performance, comfort and not only for super low looks I very highly recommend these shocks. Honestly for the RM2.5K retail price (20% less if you belong to the N16 forum, ask Alan for discount and do not require the front wheel spacers) nothing out there in the market even comes close.