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I experience the following issue: Sometimes, (I am not sure but I think this happens especially if the car stays 3-4 days in the parking without going anywhere) the clutch (disc?) slips with 4th and 5th gears -maybe with 3rd as well, at 4000 rpm, so the tachometer revs faster at 4000, reaching 5000 and ++, without the car responding respectively
After some km driving and doing this 4-5 times, the issue stops and everything is back to normal (no slipping issues at all)
Is it an issue of cold clutch/disc? is it a matter of dirt gathered somewhere after some days of stay?- dirt which is spit away after a couple of km perhaps? or oil spills? Or should I be looking for a new clutch set, maybe a harder one?

I would say oil spills .. if the cranck bearing between engine and clutch plate is faulty oil can drip onto the clutch plate .. if you slip it couple of times the oil is burned and your clutch will work fine but that's not good and need s to be resolved .. to solve this off course you need to take the gearbox out .. you can change the clutch plate at the same time to be sure.

Ask you local mecanic for advice also .. this is just what I think

Thank you for your reply
What you say seems very possible indeed
Will check this

Now the slipping issues have become even worse: Slipping happens also with 2nd-3rd gears. It lasts longer than in the first days: I mean that car slips even after more than 10-12 times before it stops slipping
I will go asap to the mechanic, until then I avoid driving it at all

Pity, but yeah time for a check before driving more!

Friend with experience on M10s claims it can't be the main seal, as it would be slipping all the time.

Anyway tomorrow I will take the car to the mechanic so we will know.
He said he will look for a clutch set for 323i, and he will also replace the flywheel for a 323 one.

Are there any differences between 323 and non 323 clutch sets (disc etc) and flywheels? I thought they were the same for all models

Are you sure a 6 cil fly wheel will work ok on a 4 cil car.

Whats the weight of your current fly wheel .. i think 323i is 6.4kg

I really don't know

Asked a friend, who said that 316 and 318 had flywheel with diameter of 215cm and 320/4, 320/6 and 323 had bigger ones, 228cm
So he says it should be the same

Its mostly the diff in weight that you have to be sure off .. if it wil work ik ok.

Havier flywheel on a 4 cil will make the engine less responsive to the gas pedal input.

If your flywheel is lighter than 6.4kg i should stick to yours.

Clutch slipping has nothing to do with what type of flywheel you are running. It has to work ok if yours is in good shape.

Thank you, I will have a check on this

Sooo it finally seems that some spill happened but from the gearbox. Mechanic found a small faulty seal and replaced it. He said that the rear crank seal was new as he had fitted it when he put the engine components together. I saw it, it looked neat and clean.
We changed the clutch set for a bigger diameter one (323) and the flywheel from 323 as I already wrote, to match. He lightened a bit the flywheel as he told me, hope all good now.

The car still at the mechanic, as I asked couple of other jobs to do as well: A rear strut bar and a new speedo cable - crossing fingers here, because all speedo cables I have changed di not stop my speedo needle from trembling, and I hate this nasty view when driving...
Hope I 'll take it in the day.

Hope that solves your issues. If the cable doesn't fix the trembling you may need a different speedo gauge.

Took the car

Problem seems to be solved. Will see the next days of course.
Much better response and apparently no issues.
Also the speedo needle works now!!! It's been years since I last remember it working smoothly
So 2 issues solved - proceeding well