88 Iroc-z Camaro - Black smoke on cold start

I recently traded for this car and I was told it had a minor issue when starting up. After the past few days it seems more and more noticable but its almost as if half the time the car runs fine and the other half it doesnt.

Normally, when I first go to start it up it starts up fine but idles at around 500 and fluctuates. At this time black smoke pours out of the exhaust and it makes a sputtering noise as if the car is coming close to dying out and then comes back to life then repeats the cycle. When I start to drive it the vehicle responds with a delay and often shuts down if I gas it too fast. After a few minutes of being over 2 grand it tends to return to normal and I have no problem.

Sometimes, seemingly at random the car starts up and idles perfect.

I had a friend of mine check the timing and he found that its at about 4 degrees then he said that my plug wires were burnt and cut a bit and that that may be my problem.

If anyone knows of something else I should check I'd like to know. Thank you.