Here's the story: Previous owner was going out for a ride and started the bike in his garage and let it warm up. I think he left the choke on and went inside for a few minutes. Somehow, the front fairing caught on fire and the fire self extinguished when the radiator hose burst. This all happened in a matter of minutes. Being the knucklehead that I am, I think I can get this bike running again, but not without some help from more knowledgeable people.

This is what I know so far, the bike will not crank but all other electrical appear to work, turn signals, dash light, horn, etc.

This is where most of the damage occurred:

http://i65.tinypic.com/5ffayr.jpg

The two items circled are the oil pressure sensor and fan switch? You can see from the pic that those wires are trashed. How hard are they to replace? I think a new radiator and fan are going to be needed too.

I haven't taken the gas tank off yet, but the throttle and clutch cables are intact and working. That's my best assessment so far. Any advice on the fan switch and oil pressure sensor wire would be appreciated.

I would look for a 2nd hand wiring harness off of ebay rather than trying to figure out how much of it melted and shorted.

I'd check into buying harness also. You will need the connectors for the sending units, which might be hard to source.

In order to do that type of damage I would think that the cooling fan didn't start up - so I'd check that when you get it running again. Might replace the thermostat as well.

I would consider the one on the radiator the temperature sending unit (correction - fan thermoswitch) and the other the oil pressure sending unit.

just an extra note, it looks like the spark plug wire coming off the coil looks melted, also the coil pak could be shot from the fire (if it was me I would just buy a different coil and wire and not deal with one more gremlin/ headache)

Thing on radiator is fan thermoswitch. Temp-sensor for gauge is on other side near thermostat.

Here's thread on troubleshooting cooling system: https://www.ninjette.org/forums/showthread.php?t=320356

Another for troubleshooting starting system: https://www.ninjette.org/forums/showthread.php?t=318707

If the coil is damaged (test with meter for an idea of its condition), it's just a single coil, not a coil pack.

The fire may have started if the fairing had somehow gotten up against an exhaust pipe, but there may have been some sort of fuel leak. I'd look very carefully for leaking gasoline when you get to the point where you're thinking of starting it.

I saw that bike listed on Craigslist. I hope he paid you a $100 dollars to haul it away.
By the way I wish you success on getting it running again. Since I saw it carigslist I may be close by. I have rebuilt a number of carbs and can lend a hand or advice.

A friend of mine got an older Monster 900 that had a wiring harness fire. He stripped it to the frame, had that trellis frame nickel plated, put a new harness on it, and painted it a dark metallic green (kind of a british racing green). Bike turns heads. If you have the appetite for a project and the price is right...

Funny how two people can look at the same bike in person and come away with completely opposite opinions. I do appreciate the advice given based on just the pic. Thanks.

Bike has been sitting and no fuel/fluid leaks. I drained the gas tank today, there was over 2 gallons in the tank. This is what it looks like underneath the tank:

http://i64.tinypic.com/14e8kki.jpg

Looks like the damage was confined mainly to the front left side of the bike. No damage to the tank or petcock; fuel lines are all intact. I pulled out the connectors to show how they somehow escaped getting incinerated. You'd think that since heat rises, a lot of stuff would have been destroyed under the tank. Thanks for pointing out the wire on the left side coil, taz.

I agree with everyone about the harness. It's cheaper and quicker to just replace it.

Here's what I've ordered from ebay:

Radiator and fan
Harness
Oil pressure sensor
Choke cable
Ignition coils
Thermostat

Thank goodness the pregen Ninja 250 is such a common bike, parts are plentiful and all that stuff cost just under 60 bucks shipped to my door. That's certainly something to consider if you want to take on a cheap project.

Next step is to wash off all the soot and grime from the fire. I have very little to work on this bike, but I'll update as I go along.

Most of the parts should arrive tomorrow. I got tired of getting soot and grime all over me every time I touched the bike so I gave it a quick wash today with Super Clean degreaser.

http://i64.tinypic.com/x5qu54.jpg
http://i63.tinypic.com/r8xfee.jpg

Now you can really see there was not that much damage to the bike. There's definitely some work that needs to get done, but it's looking more doable as I go along.

As I said previously, it looks like most of the damage occurred on the left side of the bike. Here you can see the spark plug wire and choke cable got toasted but on no damage on the right side.

http://i68.tinypic.com/95x6dg.jpg
http://i68.tinypic.com/fq6mh.jpg

I'm pretty convinced the fire did start from the exhaust setting the fairing on fire. If it was fuel, the fire would have gone back to the source but as you can see, the fuel lines and carbs are all fine.

I don't know what happened to my earlier post I made a few days ago, it needed moderator approval, but never posted. Anyway, I ordered the following parts:

Radiator and fan
Ignition coils (Thanks taz. I acknowledged and thanked you for pointing that out in my previous reply that never got posted while waiting for approval)
Choke cable
Oil pressure sensor
Wire harness
Thermostat

All in the parts cost less than 60 bucks shipped to my door. It helps that the pregens were probably one of the best selling bikes in the country so parts are available for a pretty reasonable price.