No $100 for the lot of 9. I've attached a picture of the lights.
OK... So now I understand your attraction to those particular fixtures.
However, if you're willing to spend an extra $100 or so, I still think the HD-specials I pointed at would be better in the long run.
IIRC, in another thread you mentioned that you were planning to sheath the interior framing in OSB or similar. I presume this would include the ceiling (which it near-certainly should, for all sorts of reasons). If so, this would make doing any sort of recessed or semi-recessed mounting much more complicated, which in turn makes using either those troffers or the utility fixtures suggested by Nestor somewhat problematic. A troffer will never look right when surface mounted; and you'd have to hack it up (probably making it even uglier) to get the sort of wide light distribution you want. The utility fixtures would presumably be easier to surface mount; but their reflectors will be counterproductive in your application.
Whereas, those HD fixtures (or similar one from other sources; I only used that particular model as a handy and near-universally available example) are easily surface mounted, and will provide good light spread when so installed -- especially if you paint the ceiling bright white.
It is 8' ceiling unfortunately. I would like to pop it up to a 10' or 12' by lifting, adding knee walls, and setting back down, but don't really think its feasible.
That does seem ambitious -- enough so to make any concerns about spending $200 vs. $100 on light fixtures laughably silly.
I thought since the light is enclosed, cutting off the sides would allow more spread of light which I would think is important with my 8' ceilings.
It would probably accomplish that purpose, to at least some extent; but I can't imagine you being happy with it in the long run. If even ~$22/fixture is too rich for your blood, you'd probably be better off looking for some cheap bare-tube (no reflector, no diffuser) strip fixtures, as opposed to hacking up something that was never designed for the sort of use you are envisioning.
I have some strip lights right now, just temporary, that were $20 a piece and are plug in. I could go with all those and hardwire them in but would still be more than the $11 the guy wants for each of the lights I posted a picture above of.
Don't take this the wrong way, but... Is the difference between $10-11/fixture and $20-22/fixture really all that big a deal? Look at it this way: For the nine (or so) fixtures you've been contemplating, over the course of the first year's use, that's only about $2/week. And then it's paid for, forever. Can you drink one less beer per week for a year, if need be?
I'm just worried if I use the troffers and fit them between the rafters, I will lose alot of "side" light and most will go straight down (due to the sides).
That's more a function of the fixture than the mounting method; but to some extent, it's two sides of the same coin. And in some cases (such as directly over your workbench, for example), that may be just the ticket. But for general illumination of your garage/shop as a whole, the eight-foot ceiling is the limiting factor. Given that, you need to either allow the light to spread out as much as possible or use a greater number of fixtures, in order to keep the illumination reasonably even.
The 2 cheap strip lights I have now (with no sides) are quite bright and I am just worried these with enclosed sides/ends won't be.
Don't confuse brightness with beam spread. Based on that comment, it sounds to me like you are mostly impressed with how well those two strip fixtures light up the whole space, as opposed to how bright they really are in one particular spot (such as directly under them). A more directional fixture will provide the latter, at the expense of the former; hence the need for more of them to cover a given area.
