Garage Door Opener Help

[BrianG]

I'm trying to do yet another home project. I got a garage door opener for my bday and was just doing the "planning" phase, and already came to an abrupt halt.

This is the upper part of my garage. You can see there isn't much room between the cross joists and the door top. I have to install the long chain guide/support bar over the spring, but under the joists.



The directions say I need a minimum of 2" between the highest point of the door and the area above it. Well, I have less than that (~1"), as seen below. The picture is a little deceiving due to the camera angle and amount I have the door open, but believe me, there is less than 2":



So, I was thinking about cutting about a 4" notch out of the 2x8 to be able to mount the opener support bar, but then reinforce it by adding some extra bracing, as seen here:



Any other ideas?