diff --git a/cluster/gce/config-test.sh b/cluster/gce/config-test.sh
index e74203b6dff..d8035a4c84a 100755
--- a/cluster/gce/config-test.sh
+++ b/cluster/gce/config-test.sh
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ MASTER_DISK_TYPE=pd-ssd
 MASTER_DISK_SIZE=${MASTER_DISK_SIZE:-20GB}
 MINION_DISK_TYPE=pd-standard
 MINION_DISK_SIZE=${MINION_DISK_SIZE:-100GB}
+KUBE_APISERVER_REQUEST_TIMEOUT=300
 
 OS_DISTRIBUTION=${KUBE_OS_DISTRIBUTION:-debian}
 MASTER_IMAGE=${KUBE_GCE_MASTER_IMAGE:-container-vm-v20150505}
@@ -53,9 +54,9 @@ ENABLE_DOCKER_REGISTRY_CACHE=true
 ENABLE_NODE_MONITORING="${KUBE_ENABLE_NODE_MONITORING:-true}"
 
 # Optional: Cluster monitoring to setup as part of the cluster bring up:
-#   none     - No cluster monitoring setup 
-#   influxdb - Heapster, InfluxDB, and Grafana 
-#   google   - Heapster, Google Cloud Monitoring, and Google Cloud Logging 
+#   none     - No cluster monitoring setup
+#   influxdb - Heapster, InfluxDB, and Grafana
+#   google   - Heapster, Google Cloud Monitoring, and Google Cloud Logging
 ENABLE_CLUSTER_MONITORING="${KUBE_ENABLE_CLUSTER_MONITORING:-influxdb}"
 
 # Optional: Enable node logging.
diff --git a/cluster/gce/configure-vm.sh b/cluster/gce/configure-vm.sh
index 30e5a91ecfc..fb1b46a3ca6 100644
--- a/cluster/gce/configure-vm.sh
+++ b/cluster/gce/configure-vm.sh
@@ -50,6 +50,12 @@ function ensure-install-dir() {
   cd ${INSTALL_DIR}
 }
 
+function salt-apiserver-timeout-grain() {
+    cat <<EOF >>/etc/salt/minion.d/grains.conf
+  minRequestTimeout: '$1'
+EOF
+}
+
 function set-broken-motd() {
   echo -e '\nBroken (or in progress) GCE Kubernetes node setup! Suggested first step:\n  tail /var/log/startupscript.log\n' > /etc/motd
 }
@@ -538,6 +544,9 @@ function configure-salt() {
   salt-run-local
   if [[ "${KUBERNETES_MASTER}" == "true" ]]; then
     salt-master-role
+    if [ -n "${KUBE_APISERVER_REQUEST_TIMEOUT:-}"  ]; then
+        salt-apiserver-timeout-grain $KUBE_APISERVER_REQUEST_TIMEOUT
+    fi
   else
     salt-node-role
     salt-docker-opts
diff --git a/cluster/gce/debian/helper.sh b/cluster/gce/debian/helper.sh
index 98eb503683a..ed6b73e152d 100644
--- a/cluster/gce/debian/helper.sh
+++ b/cluster/gce/debian/helper.sh
@@ -47,7 +47,11 @@ ADMISSION_CONTROL: $(yaml-quote ${ADMISSION_CONTROL:-})
 MASTER_IP_RANGE: $(yaml-quote ${MASTER_IP_RANGE})
 CA_CERT: $(yaml-quote ${CA_CERT_BASE64:-})
 EOF
-
+  if [ -n "${KUBE_APISERVER_REQUEST_TIMEOUT:-}"  ]; then
+    cat >>$file <<EOF
+KUBE_APISERVER_REQUEST_TIMEOUT: $(yaml-quote ${KUBE_APISERVER_REQUEST_TIMEOUT})
+EOF
+  fi
   if [[ "${master}" == "true" ]]; then
     # Master-only env vars.
     cat >>$file <<EOF
diff --git a/cluster/saltbase/salt/kube-apiserver/kube-apiserver.manifest b/cluster/saltbase/salt/kube-apiserver/kube-apiserver.manifest
index e2932ac2896..c9239900730 100644
--- a/cluster/saltbase/salt/kube-apiserver/kube-apiserver.manifest
+++ b/cluster/saltbase/salt/kube-apiserver/kube-apiserver.manifest
@@ -59,6 +59,11 @@
 {% set token_auth_file = "--token_auth_file=/dev/null" -%}
 {% set basic_auth_file = "" -%}
 
+{% set min_request_timeout = "" -%}
+{% if grains.minRequestTimeout is defined -%}
+  {% set min_request_timeout = "--min-request-timeout=" + grains.minRequestTimeout -%}
+{% endif -%}
+
 {% if grains.cloud is defined -%}
 {% if grains.cloud in [ 'aws', 'gce', 'vagrant' ] -%}
     {% set token_auth_file = "--token_auth_file=/srv/kubernetes/known_tokens.csv" -%}
@@ -79,7 +84,7 @@
  {% set runtime_config = "--runtime_config=" + grains.runtime_config -%}
 {% endif -%}
 
-{% set params = address + " " + etcd_servers + " " + cloud_provider + " " + cloud_config + " " + runtime_config + " " + admission_control + " " + service_cluster_ip_range + " " + client_ca_file + " " + basic_auth_file -%}
+{% set params = address + " " + etcd_servers + " " + cloud_provider + " " + cloud_config + " " + runtime_config + " " + admission_control + " " + service_cluster_ip_range + " " + client_ca_file + " " + basic_auth_file + " " + min_request_timeout -%}
 {% set params = params + " " + cluster_name + " " + cert_file + " " + key_file + " --secure_port=" + secure_port + " " + token_auth_file + " " + bind_address + " " + pillar['log_level'] + " " + advertise_address -%}
 
 {