Well...Many will probably wag their index finger at me for doing it, However, I've had absolutely no issues with the following process over a period of 10+ yrs since I first started using it.
For attaching aluminum motor plates to Hard Maple bearers I drill the holes and tap them for the thread pitch I'm using. If using a 4-40 thread, I use a tap drill one or two sizes smaller than the regular #43 drill depending on how sharp the tap is. Point in fact, the sharper the tap, the better. You want to cut the threads into the wood, not splay them out, or rip them into the wood.
Next, I force slow set epoxy into the tapped hole, and run the tap through and out again before curing. I'll do this a couple of times. The flutes seem to help spread the epoxy into the threads and provide a good grip for the bolt, as well as fuel proofing when cured. The bolts usually go in quite snug, and I've never had any back out, or strip the threads. In fact, I once broke the head off of a cap screw when I was I testing this procedure.
I'm not suggesting that anyone should use this procedure if they don't feel 100% comfortable with it, but I will say, that it proved itself to me once and for all when at the Cabin Fever race in Tucson one year, my Clown racer piled into the ashphalt at over 100mph, engine running, and not a single mount plate bolt came loose. That airplane had the wing and tail repaired, and is still competing.
I've actually had less luck with threaded inserts, but that could just be me...