I've finally got round to re-publishing my document on removing the HBA drivers from the ESX 3 iso, that I wrote nearly three years ago.
This lets you install ESX 3.x.x without needing to worry about disconnecting the SAN first.
If anyone is still interested - it's on the VIOPS site - under management:
http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-11950
Hope it's still useful to someone
Cheers
Dinny