diff --git a/lib/tempest b/lib/tempest
index a4558cedc1..0b5f332672 100644
--- a/lib/tempest
+++ b/lib/tempest
@@ -321,11 +321,8 @@ function configure_tempest {
     iniset $TEMPEST_CONFIG boto ssh_user ${DEFAULT_INSTANCE_USER:-cirros}
 
     # Orchestration test image
-    if [[ ! -z "$HEAT_FETCHED_TEST_IMAGE" ]]; then
-        iniset $TEMPEST_CONFIG orchestration image_ref "$HEAT_FETCHED_TEST_IMAGE"
-    elif [[ "$HEAT_CREATE_TEST_IMAGE" = "True" ]]; then
-        disk_image_create /usr/share/tripleo-image-elements "vm fedora heat-cfntools" "i386" "fedora-vm-heat-cfntools-tempest"
-        iniset $TEMPEST_CONFIG orchestration image_ref "fedora-vm-heat-cfntools-tempest"
+    if [[ ! -z "$HEAT_CFN_IMAGE_URL" ]]; then
+        iniset $TEMPEST_CONFIG orchestration image_ref $(basename "$HEAT_CFN_IMAGE_URL" ".qcow2")
     fi
 
     # Scenario
diff --git a/stackrc b/stackrc
index 4418be1c06..8320c9b1e1 100644
--- a/stackrc
+++ b/stackrc
@@ -341,11 +341,23 @@ case "$VIRT_DRIVER" in
         IMAGE_URLS=${IMAGE_URLS:-"http://download.cirros-cloud.net/0.3.1/cirros-0.3.1-x86_64-uec.tar.gz"};;
 esac
 
+# if heat is enabled, bring in a linux image with cfn enabled
+# TODO(sdague) this next block can be removed after nodepool has the 64bit image in it's cache
 HEAT_FETCHED_TEST_IMAGE=${HEAT_FETCHED_TEST_IMAGE:-""}
 if [[ "$HEAT_FETCHED_TEST_IMAGE" == "Fedora-i386-20-20131211.1-sda" ]]; then
+    HEAT_CFN_IMAGE_URL="https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/releases/20/Images/i386/$HEAT_FETCHED_TEST_IMAGE.qcow2"
     IMAGE_URLS+=",https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/releases/20/Images/i386/$HEAT_FETCHED_TEST_IMAGE.qcow2"
+elif [[ "$HEAT_FETCHED_TEST_IMAGE" == "Fedora-x86_64-20-20131211.1-sda" ]]; then
+    HEAT_CFN_IMAGE_URL="https://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/releases/20/Images/x86_64/Fedora-x86_64-20-20131211.1-sda.qcow2"
+    IMAGE_URLS+=",https://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/releases/20/Images/x86_64/Fedora-x86_64-20-20131211.1-sda.qcow2"
 fi
 
+# Uncomment after nodepool changes land
+#if [[ "$ENABLED_SERVICES" =~ 'h-api' ]]; then
+#    HEAT_CFN_IMAGE_URL=${HEAT_CFN_IMAGE_URL:-"https://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/releases/20/Images/x86_64/Fedora-x86_64-20-20131211.1-sda.qcow2"}
+#    IMAGE_URLS+=",$HEAT_CFN_IMAGE_URL"
+#fi
+
 # 10Gb default volume backing file size
 VOLUME_BACKING_FILE_SIZE=${VOLUME_BACKING_FILE_SIZE:-10250M}