The year it was built has a big bearing on it. Before about 1992 they had wooden wing spars, against which there is an extensive AD inspection requirement that has often not been done properly as per AD.
Later ones had the aluminum wing spars. Much better, and some older airplanes were retrofitted with the new wings. Almost cheaper than replacing cracked wood spars.
The front strut attach fittings on the spars were steel in the older airplanes. The aluminum spars have machined aluminum fittings that have an Airworthiness Limitation against them that demands removal and NDT every 1000 hours. That requirement is in the maintenance manual, and a lot of mechanics don't buy the manuals and don't see it. I found one of ours had hidden casting or forging cavities in it. Dye-penetrant found it.
The spring steel gear legs have a habit of snapping. ANY corrosion or nicks in the leg are red flags. Maybe 20 years ago American Champion went to an aluminum leg that is thicker and less crack-prone and saves a bit of weight, and it can be retrofitted to older spring-leg airplanes, but it requires some replacement and welding of the gear leg fabric loop on the fuselage. Used steel legs are REALLY scarce. New ones haven't been made for a long time now.
American Champion used aluminum fabric formers in the belly, and used aluminum gussets with cheap pop rivets to assemble them. Vibration of the belly fabric fatuges those rivets, and we had a gusset come loose and it ended up jamming the elevator bellcrank (during aerobatics) so that the elevator down travel was restricted. They landed OK but it could have been really serious. Through inspections are in order, in any case. And to add to that: small stuff dropped in the cabin can find its way under the floor and get into the controls. BAD. I frequently found used headset or flashlight batteries and pens in the belly. Service Letter 435 addresses some of this stuff. I made light aluminum angles to run along the edges of the floorboards and sidewalls to limit this. That's where most of it gets in.
The rudder cables also pass under pulleys beside the aft seat, and if that pax removes a hat or jacket or gloves and stuffs them down there, they can jam the rudder cable. When the rear seat is empty, connect the seat belts to keep them out of that spot. That also keeps the seat back from flopping forward and fouling the rear stick. There are small check cables in the seat back pivot to prevent that, but they are easy busted when someone leans on the folded back to reach stuff in the baggage compartment.
Tailwheel shimmy, left unaddressed, will crack and break the fuselage sternpost tube that carries the rudder hinges. BTDT. Don't tolerate ANY shimmy. It's most often due to the tailsprings (not the steering springs; I'm talking about the suspension leaf spring pack) flattened out by hard use, and new springs are not expensive and will cure most of the problem. Dynamic balancing of the tailwheel will fix the rest. Note I say DYNAMIC balancing, not static. Static will do nothing for you.
Check through this:
https://www.americanchampionaircraft.com/service-letters
The Citabria is a delightful airplane to fly. MUCH easier to get into or out of than a Cub, and it's flown solo from the front.
Edit: Forgot a couple of things. The Lycoming O-235 in the 7ECA is better than the O-200s the older ones had, but they run cool in these airplanes and can accumulate a lot of crankcase moisture that corrodes the cylinders and causes faster cylinder wear. I ended up blocking off the oil cooler even in the (Canadian) summer to get the oil temps up to drive the moisture off.
That O-235 has two impulse mags to ease starting. The O-235 had a reputation of being hard to start.
The older airplanes had steel-tube wing struts that are prone to internal corrosion. IIRC there's an AD on them. The newer airplanes have aluminum struts that are well-ventilated and drained.
