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I think your original problem was the new deep air dam so far in front of your actual radiator. This caused there to be too low of an air pressure in front of your radiator (not enough pressure change across the core to aid flow) that even with air dam openings the air flow bled down under the car rather than through the core.
Adding the pan between the air dam and the core support is what likely saved you. I would have suggested doing a dual-stage dam; one straight down from the core support and another one from the leading edge of the bumper straight down to the height of the top of the core support dam, with a horizontal plane in between (nose pan?). This should keep the pressure drop under the car around the back side of the radiator and let the duct opening pressurize air in front of the radiator to assist cooling flow. The dual-stage air dams should let air pressure build up under the nose pan, while the opening builds pressure above it, keeping it from getting ripped off.
From your first pics of your new dam I would have suggested taking the ends further all the way to the wheel well and maybe flaring the edges to push air away from the front edge of the tire (actually bend the coroplast just past 90 degrees and screw it into the inside lip of the front of the wheel well). This will also cause a vortex to draw air out from the engine compartment through the wheel wells and aid cooling flow.
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