diff --git a/cluster/gce/util.sh b/cluster/gce/util.sh
index ad562c84f3d..0ed91f56841 100755
--- a/cluster/gce/util.sh
+++ b/cluster/gce/util.sh
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ fi
 
 function get_latest_gci_image() {
   # GCI milestone to use
+  # Update the GCI image in test/e2e_node/jenkins/image-config.yaml before updating the milestone here.
   GCI_MILESTONE="53"
 
   # First try to find an active (non-deprecated) image on this milestone.
diff --git a/test/e2e_node/jenkins/gci-init.yaml b/test/e2e_node/jenkins/gci-init.yaml
index 3d96f1316d2..0f27903beb2 100644
--- a/test/e2e_node/jenkins/gci-init.yaml
+++ b/test/e2e_node/jenkins/gci-init.yaml
@@ -7,3 +7,4 @@ runcmd:
   - tar xzvf /tmp/etcd.tar.gz -C /tmp
   - cp /tmp/etcd-${ETCD_VERSION}-linux-amd64/etcd* /tmp/
   - rm -rf /tmp/etcd-${ETCD_VERSION}-linux-amd64/
+  - usermod -a -G docker jenkins
diff --git a/test/e2e_node/jenkins/image-config.yaml b/test/e2e_node/jenkins/image-config.yaml
index d6936329cd7..14be87fcbd2 100644
--- a/test/e2e_node/jenkins/image-config.yaml
+++ b/test/e2e_node/jenkins/image-config.yaml
@@ -14,3 +14,7 @@ images:
   containervm:
     image: e2e-node-containervm-v20160321-image
     project: kubernetes-node-e2e-images
+  gci-dev:
+    image: gci-dev-53-8530-29-0
+    project: google-containers
+    metadata: "user-data<test/e2e_node/jenkins/gci-init.yaml"
diff --git a/test/e2e_node/runner/run_e2e.go b/test/e2e_node/runner/run_e2e.go
index 66fa26f2e69..4d6612e905d 100644
--- a/test/e2e_node/runner/run_e2e.go
+++ b/test/e2e_node/runner/run_e2e.go
@@ -86,8 +86,19 @@ type ImageConfig struct {
 }
 
 type GCEImage struct {
-	Image   string `json:"image"`
-	Project string `json:"project"`
+	Image    string `json:"image"`
+	Project  string `json:"project"`
+	Metadata string `json:"metadata"`
+}
+
+type internalImageConfig struct {
+	images map[string]internalGCEImage
+}
+
+type internalGCEImage struct {
+	image    string
+	project  string
+	metadata *compute.Metadata
 }
 
 func main() {
@@ -102,8 +113,8 @@ func main() {
 	if *hosts == "" && *imageConfigFile == "" && *images == "" {
 		glog.Fatalf("Must specify one of --image-config-file, --hosts, --images.")
 	}
-	gceImages := &ImageConfig{
-		Images: make(map[string]GCEImage),
+	gceImages := &internalImageConfig{
+		images: make(map[string]internalGCEImage),
 	}
 	if *imageConfigFile != "" {
 		// parse images
@@ -111,10 +122,19 @@ func main() {
 		if err != nil {
 			glog.Fatalf("Could not read image config file provided: %v", err)
 		}
-		err = yaml.Unmarshal(imageConfigData, gceImages)
+		externalImageConfig := ImageConfig{Images: make(map[string]GCEImage)}
+		err = yaml.Unmarshal(imageConfigData, &externalImageConfig)
 		if err != nil {
 			glog.Fatalf("Could not parse image config file: %v", err)
 		}
+		for key, imageConfig := range externalImageConfig.Images {
+			gceImage := internalGCEImage{
+				image:    imageConfig.Image,
+				project:  imageConfig.Project,
+				metadata: getImageMetadata(imageConfig.Metadata),
+			}
+			gceImages.images[key] = gceImage
+		}
 	}
 
 	// Allow users to specify additional images via cli flags for local testing
@@ -125,22 +145,24 @@ func main() {
 		}
 		cliImages := strings.Split(*images, ",")
 		for _, img := range cliImages {
-			gceImages.Images[img] = GCEImage{
-				Image:   img,
-				Project: *imageProject,
+			gceImage := internalGCEImage{
+				image:    img,
+				project:  *imageProject,
+				metadata: getImageMetadata(*instanceMetadata),
 			}
+			gceImages.images[img] = gceImage
 		}
 	}
 
-	if len(gceImages.Images) != 0 && *zone == "" {
+	if len(gceImages.images) != 0 && *zone == "" {
 		glog.Fatal("Must specify --zone flag")
 	}
-	for shortName, image := range gceImages.Images {
-		if image.Project == "" {
+	for shortName, image := range gceImages.images {
+		if image.project == "" {
 			glog.Fatalf("Invalid config for %v; must specify a project", shortName)
 		}
 	}
-	if len(gceImages.Images) != 0 {
+	if len(gceImages.images) != 0 {
 		if *project == "" {
 			glog.Fatal("Must specify --project flag to launch images into")
 		}
@@ -170,12 +192,13 @@ func main() {
 
 	results := make(chan *TestResult)
 	running := 0
-	for shortName, image := range gceImages.Images {
+	for shortName := range gceImages.images {
+		imageConfig := gceImages.images[shortName]
 		running++
 		fmt.Printf("Initializing e2e tests using image %s.\n", shortName)
-		go func(image, imageProject string, junitFileNum int) {
-			results <- testImage(image, imageProject, junitFileNum)
-		}(image.Image, image.Project, running)
+		go func(image *internalGCEImage, junitFileNum int) {
+			results <- testImage(image, junitFileNum)
+		}(&imageConfig, running)
 	}
 	if *hosts != "" {
 		for _, host := range strings.Split(*hosts, ",") {
@@ -224,6 +247,25 @@ func (a *Archive) deleteArchive() {
 	os.Remove(path)
 }
 
+func getImageMetadata(input string) *compute.Metadata {
+	if input == "" {
+		return nil
+	}
+	glog.V(3).Infof("parsing instance metadata: %q", input)
+	raw := parseInstanceMetadata(input)
+	glog.V(4).Infof("parsed instance metadata: %v", raw)
+	metadataItems := []*compute.MetadataItems{}
+	for k, v := range raw {
+		val := v
+		metadataItems = append(metadataItems, &compute.MetadataItems{
+			Key:   k,
+			Value: &val,
+		})
+	}
+	ret := compute.Metadata{Items: metadataItems}
+	return &ret
+}
+
 // Run tests in archive against host
 func testHost(host string, deleteFiles bool, junitFileNum int, setupNode bool) *TestResult {
 	instance, err := computeService.Instances.Get(*project, *zone, host).Do()
@@ -266,14 +308,14 @@ func testHost(host string, deleteFiles bool, junitFileNum int, setupNode bool) *
 
 // Provision a gce instance using image and run the tests in archive against the instance.
 // Delete the instance afterward.
-func testImage(image, imageProject string, junitFileNum int) *TestResult {
-	host, err := createInstance(image, imageProject)
+func testImage(image *internalGCEImage, junitFileNum int) *TestResult {
+	host, err := createInstance(image)
 	if *deleteInstances {
-		defer deleteInstance(image)
+		defer deleteInstance(image.image)
 	}
 	if err != nil {
 		return &TestResult{
-			err: fmt.Errorf("unable to create gce instance with running docker daemon for image %s.  %v", image, err),
+			err: fmt.Errorf("unable to create gce instance with running docker daemon for image %s.  %v", image.image, err),
 		}
 	}
 
@@ -284,8 +326,8 @@ func testImage(image, imageProject string, junitFileNum int) *TestResult {
 }
 
 // Provision a gce instance using image
-func createInstance(image, imageProject string) (string, error) {
-	name := imageToInstanceName(image)
+func createInstance(image *internalGCEImage) (string, error) {
+	name := imageToInstanceName(image.image)
 	i := &compute.Instance{
 		Name:        name,
 		MachineType: machineType(),
@@ -304,26 +346,12 @@ func createInstance(image, imageProject string) (string, error) {
 				Boot:       true,
 				Type:       "PERSISTENT",
 				InitializeParams: &compute.AttachedDiskInitializeParams{
-					SourceImage: sourceImage(image, imageProject),
+					SourceImage: sourceImage(image.image, image.project),
 				},
 			},
 		},
 	}
-	if *instanceMetadata != "" {
-		glog.V(2).Infof("parsing instance metadata: %q", *instanceMetadata)
-		raw := parseInstanceMetadata(*instanceMetadata)
-		glog.V(3).Infof("parsed instance metadata: %v", raw)
-		i.Metadata = &compute.Metadata{}
-		metadata := []*compute.MetadataItems{}
-		for k, v := range raw {
-			val := v
-			metadata = append(metadata, &compute.MetadataItems{
-				Key:   k,
-				Value: &val,
-			})
-		}
-		i.Metadata.Items = metadata
-	}
+	i.Metadata = image.metadata
 	op, err := computeService.Instances.Insert(*project, *zone, i).Do()
 	if err != nil {
 		return "", err