diff --git a/awx_collection/plugins/modules/tower_project.py b/awx_collection/plugins/modules/tower_project.py
index ce18b3ae71..5c5f90faaa 100644
--- a/awx_collection/plugins/modules/tower_project.py
+++ b/awx_collection/plugins/modules/tower_project.py
@@ -145,7 +145,7 @@ def main():
         scm_clean=dict(type='bool', default=False),
         scm_delete_on_update=dict(type='bool', default=False),
         scm_update_on_launch=dict(type='bool', default=False),
-        scm_update_cache_timeout=dict(type='int', default=0),
+        scm_update_cache_timeout=dict(type='int'),
         job_timeout=dict(type='int', default=0),
         custom_virtualenv=dict(),
         local_path=dict(),
diff --git a/awx_collection/test/awx/test_project.py b/awx_collection/test/awx/test_project.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..ad8adb867f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/awx_collection/test/awx/test_project.py
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+import pytest
+
+from awx.main.models import Project
+
+
+@pytest.mark.django_db
+def test_create_project(run_module, admin_user, organization):
+    result = run_module('tower_project', dict(
+        name='foo',
+        organization=organization.name,
+        scm_type='git',
+        scm_url='https://foo.invalid'
+    ), admin_user)
+    assert result.pop('changed', None), result
+
+    proj = Project.objects.get(name='foo')
+    assert proj.scm_url == 'https://foo.invalid'
+    assert proj.organization == organization
+
+    result.pop('invocation')
+    assert result == {
+        'id': proj.id,
+        'project': 'foo',
+        'state': 'present'
+    }